Chinese Optics Letters, 2003, 1 (2): 02118, Published Online: Jun. 6, 2006
The bright and dark photon number states in Young's interference experiment
030.0030 coherence and statistical optics 030.4070 modes 040.5570 quantum detectors 270.0270 quantum optics 270.1670 coherent optical effects 270.5290 photon statistics
Abstract
In this paper, we derive the bright and dark photon number states for spatial interference of two or more light beams and succeed in the explanation of Young's interference experiment, and also achieve a better comprehension of the well known comment of Dirac "each photon only interferences with itself". From the fully quantum point of view, the origin of the interference fringes consists in the mode transformation and the detection of double-slit states.
Weihan Tan, Qizhi Guo. The bright and dark photon number states in Young's interference experiment[J]. Chinese Optics Letters, 2003, 1(2): 02118.