Quantum noise reduction in singly resonant optical devices

Quantum noise in a model of singly resonant frequency doubling including phase mismatch and driving in the harmonic mode is analyzed. The general formulae about the fixed points and their stability as well as the squeezing spectra calculated linearizing around such points are given. The use of a nonlinear normalization allows to disentangle in the spectra the dynamic response of the system from the contributions of the various noisy inputs. A general ``reference'' model for one-mode systems is developed in which the dynamic aspects of the problem are not contaminated by static contributions from the noisy inputs. The physical insight gained permits the elaboration of general criteria to optimize the noise suppression performance. With respect to the squeezing in the fundamental mode the optimum working point is located near the first turning point of the dispersive bistability induced by cascading of the second order nonlinear response. The nonlinearities induced by conventional crystals appear enough to reach it being the squeezing ultimately limited by the escape efficiency of the cavity. In the case of the harmonic mode both, finite phase mismatch and/or harmonic mode driving allow for an optimum dynamic response of the system something not possible in the standard phase matched Second Harmonic Generation. The squeezing is then limited by the losses in the harmonic mode, allowing for very high degrees of squeezing because of the non-resonant nature of the mode. This opens the possibility of very high performances using artificial materials with resonantly enhanced nonlinearities. It is also shown how it is possible to substantially increase the noise reduction and at the same time to more than double the output power for parameters corresponding to reported experiments.