FEEDBACK-ENHANCED SQUEEZING IN 2ND-HARMONIC GENERATION

Second-harmonic generation, in a cavity resonant only at the fundamental, produces amplitude squeezing in both the fundamental and the second harmonic, with optimal squeezing of -1/3 and -8/9, respectively, at low frequency. It also produces nonclassical correlations between the two output beams. We show that these correlations can be used to enhance the squeezing in either beam by constructing a feedback loop. By using the second-harmonic photocurrent to control the amplitude of the pump, the optimal fundamental squeezing is enhanced by 50% to -1/2. The limit of -8/9 for the seocnd harmonic (for infinite nonlinearity strength) cannot be improved by feeding back the fundamental. However, for any fixed finite nonlinearity, such feedback can produce significant enhancement, with a maximum of 50%. Even with the losses characteristic of a practical experiment included, the enchancement offered by the feedback is still significant, being greater than 20% in either mode. © 1995 The American Physical Society.