Abstract

The Ken nonlinearity is the source of important phenomena in both classical and quantum optics. Previously we had shown that a material dependent time constant plays a pivotal role in the quantum noise transformations produced by the Kerr nonlinearity.¹ In that work, we presented the classical and quantum noise correlations for propagation of an initially phase-insensitive beam through a lossless, dispersionless, Kerr medium. In the present paper, we extend the earlier work to an arbitrary Gaussian input state. Central to both developments is the inclusion of a coarse grained time constant, τ_q, which models the non-instantaneous nature of the Kerr nonlinearity. Output spectra based on Gaussian as well as other types of input spectra are presented. Also predicted is a quantum recurrence length, equal to an interaction length which yields a 2π nonlinear phase shift for an energy density of the 1 photon/cτ_q m. The possibility of experimental verification of this theory is also discussed.

© 1991 Optical Society of America