Enhancement of optical receiver sensitivities by amplification of the carrier

The amplification before detection of the carrier of a modulated optical signal by a narrow-band quantum amplifier enhances the signal-to-noise ratio, particularly when the signal wave-front is distorted. A further improvement is obtained by using a combination of wide-band and narrow-band quantum amplifiers. The practical application of these schemes requires a degenerate regenerative ring-type amplifier capable of amplifying arbitrary transverse field configurations. Experiments show that such an amplifier with a gain of 24 dB and a bandwidth of 1 MHz is feasible. The incident beam axis can be displaced by as much as ten times the beam-waist radius without losing more than 4 dB in gain. Frequency modulation may be converted into amplitude modulation by the phase shift introduced in the carrier.