Abstract

We study the statistics of direct, heterodyne, and homodyne detection for generalized squeezed states generated by three-model interaction Hamiltonians. One model interaction generates correlated triplets of photons, and the other two generate correlated quadruplets. The heterodyne statistics are described by an essentially classical phase-space distribution, the quantum Q function. From the Q functions we derive classical probability distributions for phase, which display phase-sensitive noise with three or four peaks for the three- and four-photon interactions, respectively. The homodyne statistics display quantum-mechanical interference fringes, which are not present for ordinary squeezed states. We provide a simple qualitative picture that relates the shape of the Q function to the interference features seen in the homodyne statistics. This picture allows us to explain all the gross features of the homodyne statistics for these models.

© 1990 Optical Society of America