Measurement of a negative value for the Wigner function of radiation

Following a proposal by two of us L. G. Lutterbach and L. Davidovich, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2547 (1997), we have measured the Wigner function at the origin of phase space for a single photon field. Its value is negative, exhibiting the nonclassical nature of this state. The experiment is based on the absorption-free detection of the microwave field stored in a superconducting cavity G. Nogues et al., Nature (London) 400, 239 (1999). Extension to a measurement of the Wigner function over the complete phase space is discussed.