The Quantum Origin of Diffraction from Bright and Dark States
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866917397153185792 |
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| author | Cheng, Jian-Jian Che, Jun-Ling Zhang, Lin Hu, Ming-Liang |
| author_facet | Cheng, Jian-Jian Che, Jun-Ling Zhang, Lin Hu, Ming-Liang |
| contents | Building upon the recently introduced particle interpretation of the double-slit experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 133603 (2025)] which attributes interference phenomena to detector-coupled (bright) and detector-uncoupled (dark) states of light, we develop a continuous-mode extension of the bright- and dark-state framework. This extension addresses a conceptual distinction between interference and diffraction, that is, the transition from a finite set of discrete paths to a continuum of modes. Through the construction of a complete detector-oriented basis for single-slit diffraction, we demonstrate that the observed diffraction pattern arises from projection of the photon state onto a single bright mode by identifying the detectable and undetectable modes, with photons detected at intensity minima having zero probability, as they reside in modes spanning an infinite-dimensional dark subspace. Our approach thus provides a unified particle-based explanation of diffraction that connects quantum and classical wave optics, and reveals distinctive quantum signatures in higher-order correlations. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_16329 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Quantum Origin of Diffraction from Bright and Dark States Cheng, Jian-Jian Che, Jun-Ling Zhang, Lin Hu, Ming-Liang Quantum Physics Building upon the recently introduced particle interpretation of the double-slit experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 133603 (2025)] which attributes interference phenomena to detector-coupled (bright) and detector-uncoupled (dark) states of light, we develop a continuous-mode extension of the bright- and dark-state framework. This extension addresses a conceptual distinction between interference and diffraction, that is, the transition from a finite set of discrete paths to a continuum of modes. Through the construction of a complete detector-oriented basis for single-slit diffraction, we demonstrate that the observed diffraction pattern arises from projection of the photon state onto a single bright mode by identifying the detectable and undetectable modes, with photons detected at intensity minima having zero probability, as they reside in modes spanning an infinite-dimensional dark subspace. Our approach thus provides a unified particle-based explanation of diffraction that connects quantum and classical wave optics, and reveals distinctive quantum signatures in higher-order correlations. |
| title | The Quantum Origin of Diffraction from Bright and Dark States |
| topic | Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.16329 |