Optical measurements as projection synthesis

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Abstract
We present an extension of the projection synthesis technique which allows us, at least in principle, to determine the probability distribution for any physical observable associated with a quantized optical field mode. This probability can be inferred from the photodetection statistics obtained by causing the field mode to be measured to interfere with a second mode prepared in a suitable reference state. We give an explicit expression for the required reference state. Weak-field homodyne detection using photon counting is, perhaps, the simplest system to which projection synthesis can be applied. We find the complete set of synthesized projectors for this system and show that they form a probability operator measure. We apply this set of projectors to study the discrimination between coherent states and to measure a quasiprobability distribution.

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