Soliton squeezing in asymmetric and symmetric fiber Mach-Zehnder nonlinear interferometers

Summary form only given. Several schemes to generate squeezed light by use of the Kerr nonlinearity in optical fibers have been devised. The most recent experiments used asymmetric Sagnac loops to produce amplitude squeezing. In our experiment the Sagnac geometry is "unfolded" into a Mach-Zehnder, wherein the two arms of the interferometer correspond to the polarization modes of a single-mode PM fiber. This setup allows us to switch from an asymmetric to a symmetric interferometer, and gives us full control of the phase and amplitude of the two interfering pulses. With these degrees of freedom, we are able to maximize noise reduction and perform a full measurement of the noise properties of the soliton squeezed pulses.