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The condition to get an interference pattern we must need coherent sources. After superposition, they produce interference. If we select a random photon in the superposition states, can I know the source it came from?

DanielSank
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    To anyone who would answer this: beware the confusion between a single photon in a superposition state and interference between different sources in a wave carrying medium. The differences and relations between these two things should be carefully explained. – DanielSank Feb 26 '16 at 10:00
  • Interference happens all the time. Just because your eyes are too slow to see it doesn't mean it's not there. Unfortunately, coherence of sources is one of the least understood properties of electromagnetic waves and DanielSank is absolutely right, it gets even worse when people are mistaking simple interference with quantum mechanical superposition. – CuriousOne Feb 26 '16 at 10:45
  • "coherence of sources is one of the least understood properties of electromagnetic waves" Why is that? @CuriousOne –  Feb 26 '16 at 10:47
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    I don't know why, but it seems to have gotten way worse since young people have seen lasers and now the standard false intuition seems to be that there have been no coherent sources before the advent of near monochromatic laser light... nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Sunlight and a simple pinhole make for a really nice and spatially coherent source. – CuriousOne Feb 26 '16 at 10:51
  • If you like this question you may also enjoy reading this Phys.SE post. – Qmechanic Feb 26 '16 at 11:27

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