Squeezed-coherent-state generation via four-wave mixers and detection via homodyne detectors

Wideband calculations of the response of a homodyne detector to the outputs of various four-wave-mixer configurations are presented. It is shown that the noise-power spectrum of the homodyne detector output can exhibit regions where the noise is greatly reduced below the shot-noise level even at frequencies far from dc. Hence, in the detection of noise squeezing via homodyne detectors, 1/f noise and other low-frequency noise sources may be avoided by observing the homodyne detector's noise power at frequencies far from dc.