PROBABILITY-DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THE PHASE DIFFERENCE

In this work we analyze the quantum phase properties of pairs of elect romagnetic field modes. Since phases differing by 2 pi are physically indistinguishable, we propose a general procedure to obtain the correc t mod(2 pi) probability distributions for the phase difference. This a llows us to investigate the properties of a number of phase approaches . This procedure provides deeper insight into the quantum nature of th e phase difference. We relate this problem to the representation of no nbijective canonical transformations in quantum mechanics.