Squeezing in strong light scattered by a regular structure of atoms

Squeezing in the resonance fluorescence emitted by a regular structure of atoms is discussed. Intense squeezed light fields are a prerequisite, e.g., for efficient measurements with sensitivity below the standard quantum limit. Regular structures are known to offer macroscopic squeezed light due to the fixed phase relation between the light scattered by the respective atoms, but typically restrict squeezing to low incident light intensity. As our main result, we demonstrate that this restriction to low driving field intensity can be circumvented. For this, we assume a suitable modification of the surrounding electromagnetic bath. as it can be achieved, e.g., with a cavity. The modified environment leads to a redistribution of the collective dressed state populations, such that squeezing is recovered at strong driving. In such modified environments, squeezing even occurs for a resonant driving field, in contrast to the regular vacuum case. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.