Quantum optics of near number states and squeezed states: a proposal and a comparison

Sub-Poissonian light was first observed more than two years ago.1 Until today all the sub-Poissonian lights that have been experimentally generated are of low intensity. Thus high-gain low-quantum-efficiency photomultiplier tubes are required for their detection. As a consequence, the measured Fano factor F of these lights is near unity, i.e., near the coherent state or the usual shot noise limit.