Abstract

We have experimentally demonstrated the generation of quadrature squeezed vacuum pulses of 100 fs duration at wavelengths between 1.42 µm and 1.55 µm, for the first time using a semiconductor. The squeezing is obtained by cross-phase modulation¹ in single-crystal hexagonal CdSe. Using a tuneable fs-pulsed optical parametric oscillator we have investigated the wavelength as well as the power dependence of the squeezing. The influence of the stimulated Raman effect on the noise behaviour is discussed. The compact, travelling wave geometry of the experiment and the use of a semiconductor offer several advantages to previous work at 1.55 µm done in optical fibres².

© 1998 IEEE