Squeezing via self-induced transparency in mercury-filled photonic crystal fibers

Abstract: We investigate the squeezing of ultrashort pulses using self-induced transparency in a mercury-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. Our focus is on quadrature squeezing at low mercury vapor pressures, with atoms near resonance on the $^3{\rm D}_3 \to 6^3{\rm P}_2$ transition. We vary the atomic density, thus the gas pressure (from 2.72 to 15.7$\mu$bar), by adjusting the temperature (from 273~K to 303 ~K). Our results show that achieving squeezing at room temperature, considering both fermionic and bosonic mercury isotopes, requires ultrashort femtosecond pulses. We also determine the optimal detection length for squeezing at different pressures and temperatures.