Generation and Detection of Fock-States of the Radiation Field

Abstract

In this paper we give a survey of our experiments performed with the micromaser on the generation of Fock states. Three methods can be used for this purpose: the trapping states leading to Fock states in a continuous wave operation, state reduction of a pulsed pumping beam, and finally using a pulsed pumping beam to produce Fock states on demand where trapping states stabilize the photon number.