On the Measure of Nonclassicality of Field States

Abstract

The degree of nonclassicality of states of a field mode is analysed considering both phase-space and distance-type measures of nonclassicality. By working out some general examples, it is shown explicitly that the phase-space measure is rather sensitive to superposition of states, with finite superpositions possessing maximum nonclassical depth (the highest degree of nonclassicality) irrespective of the nature of the component states. Mixed states are also discussed and examples with nonclassical depth varying between the minimum and the maximum allowed values are exhibited. For pure Gaussian states, it is demonstrated that distance-type measures based on the Hilbert–Schmidt metric are equivalent to the phase-space measure. Analyzing some examples, it is shown that distance-type measures are efficient to quantify the degree of nonclassicality of non-Gaussian pure states.