Abstract

It has recently been discovered that the quantum theory of the laser allows conventional lasers to produce squeezed light.^1-3 The physics of this squeezing is uncomplicated and robust. It relies on the fact that a sequence of Poissonian transitions having the same total mean transition time as a single Poissonian process have less time variance than the single process. Hence the sequence of transitions has sub-Poissonian time statistics. This can be transformed into sub-Poissonian laser pumping and hence into sub-Poissonian and quadrature squeezed laser light. We will discuss how this theory can be put into practice. The effects of mode structure and inefficiences will be assessed. Candidate lasers and progress towards their experimental realization will be discussed.

© 1992 Optical Society of America