Vacuum Squeezing of Solids: Macroscopic Quantum States Driven by Light Pulses.

Garrett, GA; Rojo, AG; Sood, AK; Whitaker, JF; Merlin, R · Science · 1997

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Femtosecond laser pulses and coherent two-phonon Raman scattering were used to excite KTaO3 into a squeezed state, nearly periodic in time, in which the variance of the atomic displacements dips below the standard quantum limit for half of a cycle. This nonclassical state involves a continuum of transverse acoustic modes that leads to oscillations in the refractive index associated with the frequency of a van Hove singularity in the phonon density of states.