Multipath wave-particle duality in classical optics
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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Abstract:
It is well known that in classical optics, the visibility of interference, in a two-beam light interference, is related to the optical coherence of the two beams. A wave-particle duality relation can be derived using this mutual coherence. The issue of wave-particle duality in classical optics is analyzed here, in the more general context of multipath interference. New definitions of interference visibility and path distinguishability have been introduced, which lead to a duality relation for multipath interference. The visibility is shown to be related to a new multipoint optical coherence function.
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