Abstract

As an alternative to homodyne detection, a particle scattering technique is described by which squeezing can be detected. The particle scattering off of the squeezed boson field need not be a photon and the boson field need not be the electromagnetic field. This detection method may thus be particularly useful for systems for which high-efficiency quantum counters such as photodetectors are not available (squeezed phonons, for example). The detection method takes advantage of a coherence that can be established between a scattering process which involves the emission of a boson into the squeezed boson field and that which involves the absorption of a boson from the squeezed boson field. Such a coherence is established by first preparing the particle in a superposition of two energy eigenstates whose energies differ by 2ħω₂, where ω_q is the oscillation frequency of the mode of the boson field which has been squeezed. When the coherence between the two scattering processes gives rise to destructive interference, the scattering rate can be greatly inhibited below that when the boson field is in its vacuum state. Squeezing thus can manifest itself as a reduction in a scattering rate.

© 1988 Optical Society of America