Generation and Application of Squeezed States of Light

Squeezed states of light have recently been generated in several laboratories by a variety of techniques. As the name implies, squeezed states are states for which the variance in one of two quadrature phase amplitudes is reduced (squeezed) below the level associated with the zero-point or vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. Because of an uncertainty relation constraining the product of variances, this reduction is necessarily accompanied by an increase in fluctuations above the vacuum level for the orthogonal quadrature-phase amplitude. Squeezed states are of great intrinsic interest from the perspective of quantum optics because of the nonclassical nature of the radiation field in these states. There is as well a growing interest in the potential that squeezed states offer for improvements in the precision of optical measurements and for fundamental spectroscopic investigations. In this brief contribution we review the research program at the University of Texas at Austin relating to the generation and application of squeezed states