In this paper,we briefly review the recent experimental progresses in quantum optics based on four-wave mixing(FWM) processes in hot rubidium vapor,particularly our two recent experiments in quantum information.We have experimentally produced strong quantum correlations between three bright beams generated by two cascaded FWM processes.The intensity difference squeezing with the cascaded system is enhanced to(-7.0±0.1)d B from the(-5.5±0.1)d B/(4.5±0.1)d B with only one FWM process.Also,this system can be easily extended to multiple modes using multiple FWM processes.Besides,we have also successfully realized a cascade all-optical transistor(AOT),which is driven by a very weak light beam about 800 photons in total.The required probe power for achieving a switching efficiency of 50% can be as low as 180 p W,and it can manipulate a light beam with power of 5.0×106 times more,which proves the cascade of the AOT.Both experiments may find wide applications in quantum information and optical communication.
We theoretically study the quantum Fisher information（QFI） of the SU（1,1） interferometer with phase shifts in two arms by coherent squeezed vacuum state input, and give the comparison with the result of phase shift only in one arm.Different from the traditional Mach–Zehnder interferometer, the QFI of single-arm case for an SU（1,1） interferometer can be slightly higher or lower than that of two-arm case, which depends on the intensities of the two arms of the interferometer.For coherent squeezed vacuum state input with a fixed mean photon number, the optimal sensitivity is achieved with a squeezed vacuum input in one mode and the vacuum input in the other.
A phonon counting scheme based on the control of polaritons in an optomechanical system is proposed. This approach permits us to measure the number of phonons in a quantum non-demolition(QND) manner for arbitrary modes not limited by the frequency matching condition as in usual photon-phonon scattering detections. The performance on phonon number transfer and quantum state transfer of the counter are analyzed and simulated numerically by taking into account all relevant sources of noise.
We theoretically investigate the frequency-nondegenerate and frequency degenerate squeezed lights with a four-wave mixing process(4WM)driven by two pump fields crossing at a small angle.Different from a 4WM process driven by a single pump field,the refractive index of the corresponding probe field,np,can be converted to a value that is greater than 1 or less than 1 by an angle adjustment.In the new region with np<1,the bandwidth of the gain is relatively large due to the slow change in the refractive index with the two-photon detuning.In this region with an exchange of the roles of the pump and probe beams,the frequency degenerate and spatial nondegenerate twin beams can be generated,which has potential application in quantum information and quantum metrology.
We report the Hong–Ou–Mandel（HOM） interference, with visibility of 91%, produced from two independent single photons retrieved from collective atomic excitations in two separate cold-atom clouds with high optical depths of 90. The high visibility of the HOM dip is ascribed to the pure single photon in the Fock state that was generated from a dense-cold-atom cloud pumping by a short pulse. The visibility is always the same regardless of the time response of the single-photon detectors. This result experimentally shows that the single photons retrieved are in a separable temporal state with their idler photons.
