Husimi's $Q(α)$ function and quantum interference in phase space

Abstract

We discuss a phase space description of the photon number distribution of non classical states which is based on Husimi's $Q(α)$ function and does not rely in the WKB approximation. We illustrate this approach using the examples of displaced number states and two photon coherent states and show it to provide an efficient method for computing and interpreting the photon number distribution . This result is interesting in particular for the two photon coherent states which, for high squeezing, have the probabilities of even and odd photon numbers oscillating independently.