PROBING THE QUANTUM DEGENERACY OF A DILUTE BOSE-GAS WITH SQUEEZED-LIGHT

We consider how to probe the quantum degeneracy of a dilute noncondens ed Bose gas by measuring quantum statistical properties of a transmitt ed light field. In particular, we use the sensitivity of the quantum c orrelations of a squeezed vacuum transmitted by a dispersive dielectri c slab to differential changes in the dielectric transmission coeffici ent as a function of frequency. This result is applied to the transmis sion of squeezed light from a degenerate optical parametric oscillator by a dilute, inhomogeneous noncondensed Bose gas. We find that the pr onounced sensitivity to differential dispersion and absorption can be used to distinguish between classical and quantum gas statistics, due to the influence of bosonic particle bunching on the dielectric respon se, including the influence of resonant van der Waals interactions. Th e transition from classical to quantum gas behavior is predicted to re sult in an overall reduction in noise in the transmitted spectrum of h omodyne photocurrent fluctuations.