On the statistical aspect of electron interference phenomena

Tohru Ogawa, Kunihiko Kanda

Деннис Габор

C. S. Chang, P. Stehle

The quantum theory of interference effects is given. Three experiments of particular interest are treated: (i) Young-type experiments, (ii) production of beats in photocurrents, and (iii) optical modulation of electron beams. These have been of considerable interest in recent experiments using lasers. We show that they can be accounted for by the same simple quantum-mechanical principle. In the first case, we include the effect of interference in single-photon processes and correlations in multiphoton processes. Here the method of Weisskopf and Wigner is used, and useful distinction between the concept of interference and correlation is proposed. We further emphasize the dynamical aspect of the theory. In the last two cases, we use the standard method of quantum electrodynamics. Here we view the actual experimental setup as being described by a single dynamical process. The description involves the use of nonstationary states as the relevant states to describe the successive excitation. It is shown that all the three phenomena analyzed are closely related.

J. Arol Simpson

R. Loudon

Quantum optics is a research field with somewhat elastic boundaries. In its narrowest definition, the field is restricted to the study of those optical phenomena that can only be understood in terms of the quantum theory of light. Even this narrow scope includes a rich diversity of effects, and there have been particularly striking recent advances in the use of optical experiments to demonstrate aspects of fundamental quantum mechanical theory, such as vacuum fluctuations, the Bose-Einstein statistics, superposition states in particle interference, and violations of Bell's inequality.

Henrik Ehlers