Scheme for Direct Measurement of the Wigner Function via Resonant Interaction

We propose a scheme for direct measurement of the Wigner function for a cavity mode. In the scheme the cavity field resonantly interacts with an atomic ensemble. Under certain conditions, the state of the cavity mode is transferred to the atomic system. After a displacement the measurement of the parity of the atomic excitation number directly yields the Wigner function of the initial state of the cavity mode.