MULTIPLE COINCIDENCES AND THE QUANTUM STATE RECONSTRUCTION PROBLEM

We analyze the recently proposed method [H. Paul et al., Phys. Rev. Le tt. 76, 2464 (1996)] for reconstructing the quantum state of a light f ield from multiple coincidences measured at the outputs of a passive m ultiport. We show that applying a large multiport the reconstruction o f a pure state becomes possible using avalanche photodiode-type detect ors. The presented simulations show that the photon chopping scheme is appropriate for the indirect measurement of the photon statistics of a weak nonclassical signal. [S1050-2947(97)07507-0].