https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050566
Quantum images in non degenerate optical parametric oscillators
1
Department of Physics and Applied Physics,
University of Strathclyde,
107 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NG, Scotland,
UK
2
Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia,
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133
Milano, Italy
Received:
8
October
1999
Published online: 15 June 2000
Quantum images, that is inhomogeneous field distributions purely generated by quantum fluctuations, persist when passing from the degenerate to the non-degenerate case of optical parametric oscillators (OPO). Below the threshold for parametric oscillation where the near-field distributions are homogeneous both in intensity and phase, appropriate spatial correlation functions anticipate the transverse spatial pattern that appears above threshold. In particular, the angular dependence of the far field spatial correlation function is able to reveal the travelling-wave nature of the phase pattern above threshold typical of nondegenerate OPOs. Cross-correlation functions between signal and idler intensities show clear evidence of the non-classical nature of the output light.
PACS: 42.50.Dv – Nonclassical field states; squeezed, antibunched, and sub-Poissonian states; operational definitions of the phase of the field; phase measurements / 42.65.Sf – Dynamics of nonlinear optical systems; optical instabilities, optical chaos and complexity, and optical spatio-temporal dynamics / 42.65.Yj – Optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
