Bright and Dark States of Light: The Quantum Origin of Classical Interference
Classical theory asserts that several electromagnetic waves cannot interact with matter if they interfere destructively to zero, whereas quantum mechanics predicts a nontrivial light-matter dynamics even when the average electric field vanishes. Here, we show that in quantum optics, classical interference emerges from collective bright and dark states of light, i.e., particular cases of two-mode binomial states, which are entangled superpositions of multimode photon-number states. This makes it possible to explain wave interference using the particle description of light and the superposition principle for linear systems only. It also sheds new light on an old debate concerning the origin of complementarity.
Authors
- C. E. Máximo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6316-9549)
- Paulo J. Paulino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3488-7220)
- Gerhard Rempe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2770-0819)
- Celso J. Villas-Bôas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5622-786X)
- Romain Bachelard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6026-509X)
Institutions
- Universidade Federal de São Carlos (BR)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (DE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.133603
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 13.71
Funders
- Baden-Württemberg Stiftung
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik