PROPAGATION OF SQUEEZED-LIGHT PULSES IN DISPERSIVE AND ABSORBING LINEAR DIELECTRICS

The behavior of short quantum light pulses propagating in dispersive a nd absorbing linear ground-state dielectrics is studied, with special emphasis on squeezed pulses. The analysis is based on normally ordered correlation functions of the electric-field strength, which are relat ed to quantities at the entrance plane, on using quantum Langevin equa tions. Using nonmonochromatic-mode expansion and restricting attention to a single-mode pulse in a squeezed state, the influence on squeezin g of the pulse propagation in the medium is discussed in both the time and frequency domains, and it is shown that the noise reduction obser vable in homodyne detection sensitively depends on the phase control u sed. Effects, such as squeezing enhancement associated with pulse comp ression and the destructive influence of the spectral shift caused by absorption, are demonstrated. The numerical results are supplemented b y analytical estimations derived for narrow-bandwidth Gaussian pulses.