Abstract

We describe the generation and detection of broadband squeezed states at 1047 nm in a lithium triborate (LBO) degenerate optical parametric amplifier (DOPA). The light source used is a laser-diode-pumped additive pulse mode-locked Nd:YLF laser,¹ which produces pulses 3 ps in duration at repetition rate of 140 MHz, and the average output power is 1 W. The fundamental light is frequency doubled in an external ring enhancement cavity, and the resulting high peak power of the doubled light means that it is possible to produce significant squeezing even in a single-pass or traveling-wave parametric amplifier. The all-solid-state nature of the system, and the fact that it produces squeezed light pulses with a short duration, makes it an ideal stable and quiet source to investigate the effects of squeezed light on the efficiency of nonlinear optical interactions.

© 1998 Optical Society of America