{
  "id": "2112.05512",
  "version": "v2",
  "published": "2021-12-10T13:23:56.000Z",
  "updated": "2024-03-12T00:31:20.000Z",
  "title": "Bright and dark states of light: The quantum origin of classical interference",
  "authors": [
    "Celso J. Villas-Boas",
    "Carlos E. Máximo",
    "Paulo P. de Souza",
    "Romain Bachelard",
    "Gerhard Rempe"
  ],
  "comment": "5 pages, 1 figures",
  "categories": [
    "quant-ph",
    "physics.atom-ph",
    "physics.optics"
  ],
  "abstract": "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, \\textit{i.e.}, entangled superpositions of multi-mode photon-number states. This makes it possible to explain wave interference using the particle description of light and the superposition principle for linear systems.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v2",
      "updated": "2024-03-12T00:31:20.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "dark states",
      "quantum origin",
      "average electric field vanishes",
      "quantum optics classical interference emerges",
      "nontrivial light-matter dynamics"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 5,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}