Photon counting, quantum phase, and phase-space distributions

Abstract

We analyze a recent proposal for a new phase operator along with the experiment [J. W. Noh, A. Foug\`eres, and L. Mandel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1426 (1991)] using phase-space functions. We show that the measured dispersion in phase results from a phase distribution given by the appropriate Wigner function integrated over radius. We relate this experiment to a different phase operator [H. Paul, Fortschr. Phys. 22, 657 (1974)] and the integrated Q function.