Abstract
This paper develops a method of manipulating the squeezed atom state to generate a few-photon state whose phase or photon-number fluctuations are prescribed at our disposal. The squeezed-atom state is a collective atomic state whose quantum fluctuations in population difference or collective dipole are smaller than those of the coherent atom state. It is shown that the squeezed-atom state can be generated by the interaction of atoms with a coherent state of the electromagnetic field, and that it can be used as a tunable source of squeezed radiation. A variety of squeezed states, including the photon-number squeezed state and the phase squeezed state, can be produced by manipulating the atomic state. This is owing to the fact that quantum-statistical information of the atomic state is faithfully transferred to that of the photon state. Possible experimental situations to implement our theory are discussed.
- Received 14 September 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.59.3959
©1999 American Physical Society