A note on the measurement of phase space observables with an eight-port homodyne detector

Abstract

It is well known that the Husimi Q-function of the signal field can actually be measured by the eight-port homodyne detection technique, provided that the reference beam (used for homodyne detection) is a very strong coherent field so that it can be treated classically [see e.g. Leonhardt, U.; Paul, H. Phys. Rev. A 1993, 47, R2460–R2463]. Using recent rigorous results on the quantum theory of homodyne detection observables [Kiukas, J.; Lahti, P. J. Mod. Opt., in press (see arXiv:0706.4436v1 [quant-ph])], we show that any phase space observable, and not only the Q-function, can be obtained as a high amplitude limit of the signal observable actually measured by an eight-port homodyne detector. The proof of this fact does not involve any classicality assumption.