Abstract
When linearly polarized light propagates through a medium in which elliptically polarized light would undergo self-rotation, squeezed vacuum can appear in the orthogonal polarization. A simple relationship between self-rotation and the degree of vacuum squeezing is developed. Taking into account absorption, we find the optimum conditions for squeezing in any medium that can produce self-rotation. We then find analytic expressions for the amount of vacuum squeezing produced by an atomic vapor when light is near-resonant with a transition between various low-angular-momentum states. Finally, we consider a gas of multilevel Rb atoms, and analyze squeezing for light tuned near the D lines under realistic conditions.
- Received 14 November 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.043815
©2002 American Physical Society