It has been known for some time how to measure the quantum mechanical phase probability distribution for states of light with very narrow phase distributions, such as coherent states with mean photon numbers greater than unity. Here we show how it is possible to make a direct measurement of the phase distribution of weak fields well within the quantum domain, which have very broad distributions. The procedure involved, called projection synthesis, requires a particular type of reference state. We indicate how the reference states required for measuring the phase distribution of very weak fields may be generated.
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