Abstract

Nonclassical light has the potential to provide improvements in signal-to-noise ratio in a variety of applications. This tutorial provides a characterization of nonclassical light, describes its two present manifestations—quadrature-squeezed and number-squeezed (antibunched) light — discusses methods for generating and detecting these two kinds of nonclassical light, and considers potential applications with a critical view as to when nonclassical light might be useful.

© 1989 Optical Society of America