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arXiv:quant-ph/9903027 · Physical Review A

Direct measurement of the Wigner function by photon counting

Konrad Banaszek, Czesław Radzewicz, K. Wódkiewicz, Jerzy S. Krasiński

Published Jul 1, 1999• 193 citations
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Abstract

We report a direct measurement of the Wigner function characterizing the quantum state of a light mode. The experimental scheme is based on the representation of the Wigner function as an expectation value of a displaced photon number parity operator. This allowed us to scan the phase space point-by-point, and obtain the complete Wigner function without using any numerical reconstruction algorithms.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.60.674

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We report a direct measurement of the Wigner function characterizing the quantum state of a light mode. The experimental scheme is based on the representation of the Wigner function as an expectation value of a displaced photon number parity operator. This allowed us to scan the phase space point-by-point, and obtain the complete Wigner function without using any numerical reconstruction algorithms.
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