Fig. 1. Schematics for heterodyne detection of light. (a) The signal mode enters into the detector together with an unexcited mode (image band vacuum) that gives rise to 3 dB heterodyne noise
[4,5,7]. (b) Before being received by the detector, the signal light passes through a parametric amplifier where quantum correlation
[17] is generated between the signal mode and the image band vacuum for reduction of the 3 dB heterodyne noise.
ωs,i,l, angular frequency of the signal/image band/local oscillator mode;
(
t), quantum field of signal/amplified light beam;
εl(+)(
t), classical field of local oscillator light beam; 50-50, balanced beamsplitter; LA, linear amplifier;
J−(
t) ≡
J2(
t) −
J1(
t), average differential photocurrent signal from the detector. Inset: a typical parametric amplifier consisting of a type-I periodically-poled KTiOPO
4 (PPKTP) crystal inside an optical cavity and a laser pump
[20] may be used to realize the proposed heterodyne detection with
ωp =
ωs +
ωi, where
ωp is the pump angular frequency. M
1 & M
2, cavity mirrors; DM, dichromatic mirror.