Abstract

The concept of squeezing will be introduced within the context of quantum optics. It will be shown that in a squeezed state one quadrature component of the electromagnetic field exhibits fluctuations that are smaller than in the vacuum, at the cost of a corresponding increase in the fluctuations of the other quadrature. This makes squeezing sensitively dependent on the phase of the field, and accounts for some of the technical difficulties involved in observing and using the effect.

© 1986 Optical Society of America