Method for Direct Measurement of the Wigner Function in Cavity QED and Ion Traps
L. G. Lutterbach, L. Davidovich · Physical Review Letters · 1997
We show that the Wigner function corresponding to an electromagnetic field in a cavity or a vibronic state of a trapped ion can be directly measured by means of a simple experimental procedure. The proposed method is insensitive to the relatively low detection efficiency in cavity QED experiments and yields a direct physical meaning to the Wigner distribution.