{"title":"Interference in Quantum Mechanics","authors":"Urbasi Sinha, Debadrita Ghosh","doi":"10.1007/s41745-025-00477-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman once remarked, \"We choose to examine a phenomenon which is impossible, <i>absolutely</i> impossible, to explain in any classical way, and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality, it contains the only mystery. We cannot make the mystery go away by “explaining” how it works. We will just tell you how it works. In telling you how it works, we will have told you about the basic peculiarities of all quantum mechanics\"<sup>1</sup>. The phenomenon of interference is ubiquitous in the quantum world and indeed holds within itself the explanation for many counterintuitive quantum phenomena. In this review, we choose to focus on a few ramifications and manifestations of quantum interference that have deep implications for the foundations of quantum mechanics. These include single-photon or second-order interference, two-photon or fourth-order interference and higher-order interference.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":675,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Indian Institute of Science","volume":"105 :","pages":"63 - 83"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Indian Institute of Science","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41745-025-00477-5","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman once remarked, "We choose to examine a phenomenon which is impossible, absolutely impossible, to explain in any classical way, and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality, it contains the only mystery. We cannot make the mystery go away by “explaining” how it works. We will just tell you how it works. In telling you how it works, we will have told you about the basic peculiarities of all quantum mechanics"1. The phenomenon of interference is ubiquitous in the quantum world and indeed holds within itself the explanation for many counterintuitive quantum phenomena. In this review, we choose to focus on a few ramifications and manifestations of quantum interference that have deep implications for the foundations of quantum mechanics. These include single-photon or second-order interference, two-photon or fourth-order interference and higher-order interference.
期刊介绍:
Started in 1914 as the second scientific journal to be published from India, the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science became a multidisciplinary reviews journal covering all disciplines of science, engineering and technology in 2007. Since then each issue is devoted to a specific topic of contemporary research interest and guest-edited by eminent researchers. Authors selected by the Guest Editor(s) and/or the Editorial Board are invited to submit their review articles; each issue is expected to serve as a state-of-the-art review of a topic from multiple viewpoints.