Photon-number squeezing with a noisy femtosecond fiber laser amplifier source using a collinear balanced detection...

We experimentally demonstrate photon-number squeezing at 1.55 μm using a noisy erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). We employ a collinear balanced detection (CBD) technique, where the intensity noise at a specific radio frequency is canceled between two pulse trains. In spite of substantially large excess noise (>10 dB) in an EDFA due to amplified spontaneous emission, we successfully cancel the intensity noise and achieve a shot noise limit at a specific radio frequency with the CBD technique. We exploit two sets of fiber polarization interferometers to generate squeezed light and observe a maximal photon-number squeezing of -2.6 dB.