By closely following the work of Reid and Walls, a fully quantum-mechanical treatment of an atomic radiation-field interaction is developed with the aim of deriving basic equations for a nondegenerate four-wave mixer. The resultant equations are examined in forward and cavity geometries for their implications regarding squeezed states. Good agreement between our theory and the experiments of Slusher et al. is demonstrated.

• Received 18 October 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.33.3204