Non-Classical Behaviour of Scalar Wave Fields in Any State of Spatial Coherence and Point Sources in the Phase-Space Representation

TL;DR

This paper explores the non-classical behaviors of scalar wave fields in various coherence states using phase-space representations, revealing effects similar to quantum phenomena without explicit quantum correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a phase-space approach to analyze spatial coherence, demonstrating effects akin to quantum states in classical optical fields without quantum correlations.

Findings

Identification of non-classical effects in classical coherence models

Generation of light states resembling quantum Schrödinger cat states

Analysis of virtual and radiant point sources in phase-space

Abstract

In the framework of the spatial coherence wavelets, different features of the first-order spatial coherence (Young's interference) are analysed by calculating the corresponding marginal power spectrum, a close related quantity to the classical Wigner Distribution Function (WDF) of the optical field. The consideration of radiant and virtual point sources evidences some effects, conventionally attributed to non-classical correlations of light, although such type of correlations are not explicitly included in the model. Specifically, a light state is produced that has similar morphology to the WDF of the well-known quantum Schr\"odinger cat state.