Bright squeezed vacuum in a nonlinear interferometer: frequency/temporal Schmidt-mode description

Abstract: Control over the spectral properties of the bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), a highly multimode non-classical macroscopic state of light that can be generated through high-gain parametric down conversion, is crucial for many applications. In particular, in several recent experiments BSV is generated in a strongly pumped SU(1,1) interferometer to achieve phase supersensitivity, perform broadband homodyne detection, or tailor the frequency spectrum of squeezed light. In this work, we present an analytical approach to the theoretical description of BSV in the frequency domain based on the Bloch-Messiah reduction and the Schmidt-mode formalism. As a special case we consider a strongly pumped SU(1,1) interferometer. We show that different moments of the radiation at its output depend on the phase, dispersion and the parametric gain in a nontrivial way, thereby providing additional insights on the capabilities of nonlinear interferometers. In particular, a dramatic change in the spectrum occurs as the parametric gain increases.