Experimental determination of quantum-phase distributions using optical homodyne tomography

Abstract

From the experimental measurement of probability distributions of quadrature-field amplitudes, followed by numerical inversion (optical homodyne tomography), we have determined distributions and/or moments of the optical phase of small-photon-number fields for several definitions of the phase variable, including those based on Hermitian operators and on quasiprobability distributions. These measurements were performed on a vacuum field, and a weakly squeezed field. It is found that each definition of phase yields different distributions and/or moments for the experimental data. In addition, all of the experimentally determined quantities agree with the corresponding theoretical predictions.