Abstract

The process of zero threshold laser action in stimulated emission (StE) has been first reported by our laboratory, together with spontaneous emission (SpE) anomalies.¹,² In this work a new microcavity technique aimed at the investigation of the Bose-Einstein quantum correlations between two microlasers coupled to the same quasi plane-wave microcavity k-mode, orthogonal to the microcavity mirrors and excited by two independent beams at λ = 0.53 μm SHG by a common TEM₀₀ Nd:YAG unstable-cavity laser. In the experiment the micrometrically controlled transverse distance s is the relevant variable of the experiment. The StE radiation at λ = 0.632 μm emerging from the microcavity on the k-mode is detected through an efficient spatial filter. The measurement of the exponential thresholdless-laser gain at various coherent-pump intensities of the overall laser system leads to the functional s-dependence of a relevant quantity: the "degree of Bose-Einstein correlation" a (s, d) among the active spots¹,² excited in the microcavity. The behavior of this quantity for microcavity spacings d = [d ≡ (λ/2, 5d, 10d], demonstrates that the rapid quantum decorrelation taking place in the condition of maximum confinement, i.e., at d = d, decreases at large d values approaching asymptotically, for a macroscopic-cavity d > d, the full correlation over the entire plane-wave phase surface expected according to the common QED notion of full photon freespace delocalization. An extended theoretical account of this novel effect of fundamental atom-field interaction physics and laser physics is given on the basis of the quantum interference taking place within the StE process among the plane waves belonging to the modal k-distribution for a microcavity of finite finesse. A region in the microcavity of interaction coherence (referred to as a photon-localization: effect) is established, giving rise to a strong dependence of the quantum-mechanical interatom correlation on the parameters of the microcavity. The theoretical results are found to be in agreement with our experimental findings. General considerations on the QED concept of transversal photon localization will be given on the basis of our results. These are apparently the first to be concerned with such a fundamental topological problem. This one is found to involve, in a new manner, relativistic retardation effects as well as a new EPR-type experimental configuration. Experimental results on the process of field interference by the partially interacting microlasers¹,² will also be reported. This topic raises (and our results answer) additional questions regarding the quantum structure of light. The QED theory of the interference process will also be given with reference to our results.

© 1990 Optical Society of America