A novel way to make frequency-dependent squeezed light
AEI team shows first time generation of frequency dependent squeezed light from a detuned optical parametric oscillator
Quantum mechanics fundamentally limits highest precision force measurements, such as those employed in gravitational-wave detectors. The resulting random noise is a combination of shot noise and quantum back-action noise and defines the “standard quantum limit” of interferometry. This limit can be overcome with frequency-dependent squeezed light. While gravitational-wave detectors have been using “simple” squeezed light for more than a decade, they are only now starting to implement frequency-dependent squeezing. The current implementation uses squeezed light sources and filter cavities and cannot entirely cancel quantum back-action noise. Now, a team of AEI researchers has demonstrated for the first time a new method of generating frequency-dependent squeezed light. It is based on detuning the optical parametric oscillator in a squeezed light source, and can entirely evade back-action noise. The novel method is unlikely to replace the combination of squeezers and filter cavities in gravitational-wave detectors. It could, however, be a useful add-on for third-generation detectors such as the Einstein Telescope and might also have applications in other opto-mechanical precision experiments and coherent quantum noise cancellation.
Paper abstract

Frequency-dependent squeezing is a promising technique to overcome the standard quantum limit in opto-mechanical force measurements, e.g. gravitational wave detectors. For the first time, we show that frequency-dependent squeezing can be produced by detuning an optical parametric oscillator from resonance. Its frequency-dependent Wigner function is reconstructed quantum-tomographically and exhibits a rotation by 39°, along which the noise is reduced by up to 5.5 dB. Our setup is suitable for realizing effective negative-mass oscillators required for coherent quantum noise cancellation.