Sub-Poissonian-light generation by postselection from twin beams

States with sub-Poissonian photon-number statistics obtained by post-selection from twin beams are experimentally generated. States with Fano factors down to 0.62 and mean photon numbers around 12 are reached. Their quasi-distributions of integrated intensities attaining negative values are reconstructed. An intensified CCD camera with a quantum detection efficiency exceeding 20% is utilized both for post-selection and beam characterization. Experimental results are compared with theory that provides the optimum experimental conditions. (c) 2013 Optical Society of America