Abstract
Intense light beams propagating in a lossless, dispersionless, single-mode optical fiber are subject to the Kerr effect, i.e., to the intensity-dependent refractive index of the fiber’s fused-silica core. Classically, Kerr-effect-induced self-phase modulation (SPM) can be used for spectral broadening of a picosecond pulse for grating-pair pulse compression down to femtosecond duration. Quantum mechanically, Kerr-effect-induced four-wave mixing (FWM) has been used to produce squeezed-state light. We present a quantum propagation theory for a lossless, dispersionless fiber with the Kerr nonlinearity. The theory includes classical SPM and quantum FWM within their regions of validity. It introduces a material time constant for the Kerr interaction, limiting the quantum phase shifts caused by the broadband zero-point fluctuations that accompany any input field, to develop a coarse-grained time multitemporal mode field analysis. Explicit expressions are obtained for the first and the second output-field moments when the fiber’s input field is in an arbitrary Gaussian state. These results are used to obtain homodyne-detection noise spectra, which are employed, in turn, to seek experimentally accessible manifestations of the Kerr time constant.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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Lance G. Joneckis and Jeffrey H. Shapiro, "Quantum propagation in a Kerr medium: lossless, dispersionless fiber: erratum," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11, 150-150 (1994)https://opg.optica.org/josab/abstract.cfm?uri=josab-11-1-150
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