The Dirac notation is one of the mathematical avenues that can be used to describe nature quantum mechanically. This mathematical notation was invented by Dirac in 1939 and is particularly well suited to describe quantum optics. In this chapter, we introduce the reader to the basics of the Dirac notation and apply the notation to the generalized description of the fundamental phenomenon of interference that, as it will be seen, is crucial to quantum physics itself. This description is based on topics and elements of a review given by Duarte (2003).
In Principles of Quantum Mechanics, first published in 1930, Dirac discusses the essence of interference as a one-photon phenomenon. Albeit ...
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