Chapter One - Interference of Light and of Material Particles: A Departure from the Superposition Principle

Interference of light and material particles is described in this chapter with a unified model, which does not need to assume the superposition principle. A moving particle is associated with a region of spatial correlated points called a coherence cone. Its geometry depends on photon or material particle momentum and on the parameters of the experimental setup. The coherence cone geometry causes the spatial distribution of particles in preferential directions. After propagation, particles accumulate on the final observation plane to form interference peaks. In the context given here, the wave front superposition principle, wave–particle duality, and wave collapse are no longer significant. In addition, the present model describes light and material particle distributions in near- and far-field regions and in paraxial and nonparaxial approximations so that the paraxial Fourier and Wigner optics are included, as particular cases, in our more general model. Fits of observed single-electron and single-molecule interference patterns, together with the simulations of expected near-field molecule interferences, demonstrate the model validity. An interference experiment is suggested to realize molecular nanostructures with a vacuum sublimation process controlled by a shadow mask. A new scenario is envisaged to miniaturize electronic devices and to realize individual noninteracting nanodomains of well-chosen thickness.