Squeezed states with thermal noise. I. Photon-number statistics

We investigate a free monochromatic electromagnetic field which is the superposition of a squeezed thermal radiation and a coherent one. The main tool in our analysis is the characteristic function that has a Gaussian form. We establish an analytic formula for an arbitrary correlation function, as well as its strong-squeezing limit. Besides the usual quasiprobability densities, the coherent-state, number-state, coordinate, and momentum representations of the density operator are derived. We point out the nonclassical oscillations of the photon-number distribution and find its generating function. Collaterally, displaced thermal states and squeezed thermal states are revisited as nontrivial particular cases. We examine finally the squeezing properties of the field using the distribution functions of the quadratures.