Squeezed lasing without inversion or light amplification by coherence

We present a detailed analysis of the noise properties of a potential lasing scheme employing a coherently driven three-level system in the {Λ} configuration inside an optical cavity. We derive expressions for the steady-state laser intensity and the width of the intensity fluctuations and show that the output fields exhibit sub-Poissonian statistics for suitable operating conditions. The fundamental mechanism responsible for noise suppression is identified as increased intensity dissipation inside the cavity through emission and absorption by the atoms, which counteracts the intensity fluctuations.