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Noiseless Optical Amplifier Operating on Hundreds of Spatial Modes

N. V. Corzo, A. M. Marino, K. M. Jones, and P. D. Lett
Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043602 – Published 26 July 2012
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Abstract

We implement a noiseless optical amplifier using a phase-sensitive four-wave mixing process in rubidium vapor. We observe performance near the quantum limit for this type of amplifier over a range of experimental parameters and show that the noise figure is always better than would be obtained with a phase-insensitive amplifier with the same gain. Additionally, we observe that the amplifier supports hundreds of spatial modes, making it possible to amplify complex two-dimensional spatial patterns with less than a 10% degradation of the input signal-to-noise ratio for gains up to 4.6. To confirm the multimode character of the amplifier, we study the noise figure as a function of spatially-varying losses. Additionally, we investigate the spatial resolution of the amplifier and show that it supports a range of spatial frequencies from 1.3 to more than 35 line pairs per millimeter.

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  • Received 11 April 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.043602

© 2012 American Physical Society

Synopsis

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Don’t Bring the Noise

Published 26 July 2012

Noiseless amplification of multiple spatial channels in rubidium vapor can aid optical communications and quantum information processing.

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Authors & Affiliations

N. V. Corzo1,2, A. M. Marino1, K. M. Jones3, and P. D. Lett1,*

  • 1Quantum Measurement Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Joint Quantum Institute, NIST and University of Maryland, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8424, USA
  • 2Departamento de Física, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México D.F., 07360, México
  • 3Department of Physics, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267, USA

  • *paul.lett@nist.gov

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Issue

Vol. 109, Iss. 4 — 27 July 2012

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