  We theoretically investigate the mechanism of two-mode quadrature squeezing
in regime of four-wave mixing in a \Lambda-scheme of three-level atoms embedded
in a thermal reservoir. We demonstrate that the process of nonlinear transfer
of noise from the low frequency of ground state splitting to the optical
frequency drastically modifies the condition of effective two-mode squeezing.
The damage factor is significant if number of thermal photons at the low
frequency is high and the role of inelastic processes in ground state coherence
decay is not negligible. We found the optimal conditions for squeezing, in
particular optimal density-length product of active medium depending on the
relaxation parameters and drive intensity.
