Arturo Lezama1,
P. Valente2, H. Failache1, M. Martinelli2
and
P. Nussenzveig2
1Instituto
de Física, Facultad
de Ingeniería.
2Instituto
de Física,
Universidade de São Paulo,
Single-pass quantum
fluctuation spectroscopy in atomic samples
Nonlinear interaction between light
and atoms is a well known test bench for quantum optics. Purely quantum
states
of light such as light squeezing or photon anti bunching, were
initially
predicted to occur via interaction of laser beams with simple atomic
systems.
Although most recent experiments use atomic samples contained in
optical
cavities to enhance the nonlinear interaction, single pass experiments
still
deserve interest due to the inherent simplicity and possible
technological
applications. In this talk we discuss the statistical properties of
light
fluctuations (noise) corresponding to quantized optical fields
traversing an
optically thick atomic medium taking into account the complete Zeeman
structure
of the involved atomic transition. We examine the generation of vacuum
squeezing. The connection between squeezing ant two mode (continuous
variable)
polarization entanglement is illustrated.