Binomial States of the Quantized Radiation Field

Abstract

We introduce the binomial state of the quantized radiation field, which is a state that yields a binomial counting probability distribution. It reduces to the coherent state and to the number state in different limits. The binomal state is quantum mechanical in nature, and we show that it produces light that is antibunched, sub-poissonian, and squeezed for certain parameter ranges. A mixed binomial state is also defined. Particular attention is devoted to the mixed Bernoulli state which is an important special case. The properties of this mixed state indicate that squeezing might be present in individual atomic emissions.