Signatures of the pair-coherent state

We explore in detail the possibility of generating a pair-coherent state in the nondegenerate parametric oscillator when decoherence is included. Such states are predicted in the transient regime in parametric oscillation whe re the pump mode is adiabatically eliminated. Two specific signatures are e xamined to indicate whether the state of interest has been generated, the S chrodinger cat state-like signatures, and the fidelity. Solutions in a tran sient regime reveal interference fringes which are indicative of the format ion of a Schrodinger cat state. The fidelity indicates the purity of our pr epared state compared with the ideal pair-coherent state.