Squeezed states of light

Fig. 1: Electric field of a monochromatic light-wave versus phase, for five different quantum states. The fuzzy area illustrates the fact that the electric field strength is not precisely defined. The darker the color the higher the probability.

In quantum physics, light is in a squeezed state if its electric field strength Ԑ for some phases has a quantum uncertainty smaller than that of a coherent state. The term squeezing thus refers to a reduced quantum uncertainty. To obey Heisenberg's uncertainty relation, a squeezed state must also have phases at which the electric field uncertainty is anti-squeezed, i.e. larger than that of a coherent state. Since 2019, the gravitational-wave observatories LIGO and Virgo employ squeezed laser light, which has significantly increased the rate of observed gravitational-wave events.

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