Wigner function of pulsed fields by direct detection

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to reconstruct the Wigner function of pulsed optical states using direct detection of photon probability distributions, enabling characterization of both classical and nonclassical states at mesoscopic intensities.

Contribution

It introduces a technique for Wigner function reconstruction via direct detection with a non-photon-resolving detector, applicable to high-intensity pulsed states.

Findings

Successful reconstruction of Wigner functions for classical pulsed states.

Method works at intensities exceeding 30 photons per pulse.

Applicable to characterizing nonclassical continuous-variable states.

Abstract

We present the reconstruction of the Wigner function of some classical pulsed optical states obtained by direct measurement of the detected-photon probability distributions of the state displaced by a coherent field. We use a photodetector endowed with internal gain, which is operated in the non- photon-resolving regime. The measurements are performed up to mesoscopic intensities (up to more than 30 photons per pulse). The method can be applied to characterize nonclassical continuous-variable states.