Strong relative intensity squeezing by four-wave mixing in rubidium vapor

We have measured −3.5 dB (−8.1 dB corrected for losses) relative intensity squeezing between probe and conjugate beams generated by stimulated, nondegenerate four-wave mixing in hot rubidium vapor. Unlike early observations of squeezing in atomic vapors based on saturation of a two-level system, our scheme uses a resonant nonlinearity based on ground-state coherences in a three-level system. Since this scheme produces narrowband, squeezed light near an atomic resonance, it is of interest for experiments involving cold atoms or atomic ensembles.