PHASE PROPERTIES OF REAL FIELD STATES - THE GARRISON-WONG VERSUS PEGG-BARNETT PREDICTIONS

A comparison is made of predictions for the phase variances and the phase distribution functions obtained from the Garrison-Wong and Pegg-Barnett formalisms for real field states that include number states, coherent states, and squeezed vacuum states. It is shown that both approaches lead to qualitatively different phase distributions. The Garrison-Wong approach predicts an anisotropy of the phase distribution that is inconsistent with the symmetry of the Wigner and Q functions.