SAMPLING QUANTUM PHASE-SPACE WITH SQUEEZED STATES

We study the application of squeezed states in a quantum optical schem e for direct sampling of the phase space by photon counting. We prove that the detection setup with a squeezed coherent probe field is equiv alent to the probing of the squeezed signal field with a coherent stat e. An example of the Schrodinger cat state measurement shows that the use of squeezed states allows one to detect clearly the interference b etween distinct phase space components despite losses through the unus ed output port of the setup. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.