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Vacuum Squeezing in Atomic Media via Self-Rotation

A. B. Matsko, I. Novikova, G. R. Welch, D. Budker, D. F. Kimball, S. M. Rochester

quant-pharXiv:quant-ph/0112072

Abstract

When linearly polarized light propagates through a medium in which elliptically polarized light would undergo self-rotation, squeezed vacuum can appear in the orthogonal polarization. A simple relationship between self-rotation and the degree of vacuum squeezing is developed. Taking into account absorption, we find the optimum conditions for squeezing in any medium that can produce self-rotation. We then find analytic expressions for the amount of vacuum squeezing produced by an atomic vapor when light is near-resonant with a transition between various low-angular-momentum states. Finally, we consider a gas of multi-level Rb atoms, and analyze squeezing for light tuned near the D-lines under realistic conditions.

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