Reading-off properties about the quantized radiation field from the optical tomogram

Optical tomograms are readily obtained from experimental data. The tomogram is the starting point for reconstructing the density operator or Wigner function. The reconstruction program is often challenging, particularly in the case of systems with infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces, as for instance in optics. It is therefore well-advised to extract as many properties of the radiation field as possible directly from the tomogram avoiding detailed state reconstruction. The importance of optical tomograms, and the fact that they contain all the information about the quantized radiation field have been highlighted in detail by different research groups, primarily from Russia. We will expand on this aspect and identify certain nonclassical properties of states of light directly from qualitative features of appropriate optical tomograms, and also quantify these properties.