Abstract

The experimental evidence for squeezed states might be interpreted as resulting from photon antibunching without squeezing. Even though this Interpretation leads to no benefit for interferometric measurements the implied antibunching remains philosophically fascinating with respect to photon predictability. It also turns out that photon counting of ordinary light with integration for a preset total count as opposed to a preset time easily can emulate the evidence. A novel optical homodyne receiver based on a lenticular screen furnishes the two quadrature signal components simultaneously for either tracing phasor diagrams or bidirectional fringe counting. Because of its efficiency and simplicity this receiver should find numerous applications in coherent optical communication, laser metrology, stellar interferometry, and laser gyroscopes.

© 1987 Optical Society of America