(c) Dr Paul Kinsler. [Acknowledgements & Feedback]
This work was done in conjunction with Prof. P.D. Drummond and was undertaken initially at the Departments of Physics in the University of Auckland, but primarily at the University of Queensland.
The parametric oscillator consists of a doubly resonant optical cavity containing a non linear medium that is capable of causing both frequency doubling as well as the opposite process of photon pair production.
My research revealed order of magnitude differences between the quantum and the semiclassical tunnelling rates in the bistable parametric oscillator. This system has exact quantum solutions, which makes it an important system in which to study non linear quantum effects. This work led on into an investigation of the differences between quantum and semiclassical theories. The more recent work on triple correlations has very interesting implications for the testing of quantum mechanics in a way analogous to the "all-or-nothing" GHZ tests of local hidden variable theories. These advances on the EPR type experiments help demonstrate how the quantum uncertainty manifests itself in physical systems.
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Date=20000223 19970702 Author=P.Kinsler Created=19960222