Statistical and phase properties of the binomial states of the electromagnetic field.

Abstract

We investigate the nonclassical properties of the single-mode binomial states of the quantized electromagnetic field. We concentrate our analysis on the fact that the binomial states interpolate between the coherent states and the number states, depending on the values of the parameters involved. We discuss their statistical properties, such as squeezing (second and fourth order) and sub-Poissonian character. We show how the transition between those two fundamentally different states occurs, employing quasiprobability distributions in phase space, and we provide, at the same time, an interesting picture for the origin of second-order quadrature squeezing. We also discuss the phase properties of the binomial states using the Hermitian-phase-operator formalism.