Balanced-heterodyne detection of sub-shot-noise optical signals

Abstract

As part of the effort to make use of squeezed states of light for detection of sub-shot-noise optical signals, we study the balanced heterodyne scheme, for which the corresponding spectral density of the photocurrent fluctuations produced at the output of the detector is calculated as the Fourier transform of their autocorrelation function. Our analysis shows that, for maximal signal-to-noise ratio enhancement by use of squeezed states of light, an optical signal to be measured must be carried in the squeezed quadrature of the carrier field. We discuss how "the additional heterodyne noise" can be eliminated in this scheme and its potential application to gravitational-wave searching. To demonstrate the practical feasibility, we propose and study a phase-locking technique for this scheme.