Quantum interference effects on fermion clustering in a fermion interferometer

The wave-like attributes of matter have been examined in numerous interference experiments exhibiting the first-order coherence of the particle field. Intensity fluctuation and correlation experiments, such as pioneered in light optics by Hanbury Brown and Twiss, manifest second-order coherence, a measure of particle clustering behaviour. Experiments of this nature have not, as yet, been performed on massive particle beams. The cross-correlation of output beams in a Mach-Zehnder fermion interferometer is sensitive to the coherence properties of multiparticle input states and to the quantum mechanical interaction of such states with potential fields such as electromagnetic potentials or gravity. Examples of both one- and two-port input beams are considered.