QUANTUM-THEORY OF NONDEGENERATE MULTIWAVE MIXING - EFFECT OF PUMP PHASE FLUCTUATIONS

We extend the quantum theory of nondegenerate four-wave mixing by incl uding the effects of the finite bandwidth of the driving-pump field. T he interaction of a beam of two-level atoms with the two opposite driv ing-pump fields that have finite bandwidth inside a bimodal cavity is considered. The master equation for the cavity-field modes, averaged o ver the stochastic process, is derived. We use our theory to study the effects of phase fluctuations, associated with the driving-pump field , on the generation of two-mode squeezing inside the cavity. The stead y-state squeezing is achieved with the same driving-pump field as a lo cal oscillator in the balanced homodyne-detection system. Our results show that, in spite of instantaneous phase locking between the cavity field and the local oscillator, the time-delay effects associated with the exponential decay of atomic coherence relate the steady-state squ eezing to the diffusion constant of the driving-pump field. (C) 1997 O ptical Society of America.