Degree of polarization as a measurable quantity for a quantum optical field containing variously polarized photons

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Abstract We focus on a comparison between the classical and quantum descriptions of the degree of polarization of an optical field. A quantum field containing photons with various states of polarization and which propagate in the same direction in free space one after another (a so called photon beam) is analyzed. We show that the formulated definition of degree of polarization for this quantum field leads to a measurable quantity. The concept of a thought experiment is presented.