1. The classical limit of quantum optics: not what it seems at first sight
- Author
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Yakir Aharonov, Alonso Botero, Shmuel Nussinov, Sandu Popescu, Jeff Tollaksen, and Lev Vaidman
- Subjects
Science ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
What light is and how to describe it has always been a central subject in physics. As our understanding has increased, so have our theories changed: geometrical optics, wave optics and quantum optics are increasingly sophisticated descriptions, each referring to a larger class of phenomena than its predecessor. But how exactly are these theories related? How and when wave optics reduces to geometric optics is a rather simple problem. Similarly, how quantum optics reduces to wave optics has also been considered to be a very simple business. It is not so. As we show here the classical limit of quantum optics is a far more complicated issue; it is in fact dramatically more involved and it requires a complete revision of all our intuitions. The revised intuitions can then serve as a guide to finding novel quantum effects.
- Published
- 2013
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