Concurrent spin squeezing and light squeezing in an atomic ensemble

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method for simultaneously generating spin squeezing and light squeezing in a hot atomic ensemble, advancing quantum metrology and networks with a proof-of-principle experiment.

Contribution

The authors propose a new protocol for concurrent spin and light squeezing using engineered atom-light interactions, with experimental validation.

Findings

Achieved 0.61 dB spin squeezing and 0.65 dB light squeezing.

Squeezing process is deterministic with fixed directions.

Squeezed light modes are in multiple frequency sidebands.

Abstract

Squeezed spin states and squeezed light are both key resources for quantum metrology and quantum information science, but have been separately investigated in experiments so far. Simultaneous generation of these two types of quantum states in one experiment setup is intriguing but remains a challenging goal. Here we propose a novel protocol based on judiciously engineered symmetric atom-light interaction, and report proof-of-principle experimental results of concurrent spin squeezing of $0.61\pm0.09~\mathrm{dB}$ and light squeezing of $0.65^{+0.11}_{-0.10}~\mathrm{dB}$ in a hot atomic ensemble. The squeezing process is deterministic, yielding fixed squeezing directions for both the light field and the collective atomic spin. Furthermore, the squeezed light modes lie in the multiple frequency sidebands of a single spatial mode. This new type of dual squeezed state is applicable for quantum enhanced metrology and quantum networks. Our method can be extended to other quantum platforms such as optomechanics, cold atom and trapped ions.