Quantum Anatomy of the Classical Interference of n-Photon States in a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Abstract

In this work we present the theory for the quantum interference of states with an arbitrary number of photons in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We express the mathematical description of the interference in an algebraic way. We show the interference pattern of an average of a n photons input state corresponds to the classical interference pattern, which tells us the last comes from a quantum interference statistical average. Then, we propose to use this scheme to study the statistical transition from quantum to classical interference.