Wigner Quasiprobability of Coherent Phase States

The Wigner quasiprobability, along with some of its essentialproperties, is introduced and discussed in two versions, first covering real canonical variables such as W(q,p) and second a pair of complex conjugate coordinates such as W(α,α*). The reconstruction of the density operator ϱ of states is also given. Building upon the Susskind–Glogower concept of quantum phase operators, further aspects of phase operator algebras in the quantum optics of a harmonic oscillator are discussed in relation to the realization of the su(1,1) Lie algebra. Coherent phase states |ε⟩ are introduced in analogy to the common coherent states |α⟩ in two ways, as both eigenstates of certain operators and as states generated from a ground state |0⟩ by operators of the Lie group SU(1,1). The limiting transition to the non-normalizable Fritz London phase states |eiφ⟩ on the unit circle and an (over)-completeness relation for the coherent phase states are derived. The Wigner quasiprobability W(q,p) for the coherent phase states is calculated and graphically represented. From the Wigner quasiprobability, a phase distribution W(φ) is calculated by integrating over the radius, and its uncertainty is defined and presented. The Hilbert–Schmidt distance is discussed as a measure of the non-classicality of states, where most of our with Viktor Dodonov work was carried out.