An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

In quantum physics, a situation where an object’s wave property is split in two, and the two waves coherently interfere with each other in such a way as to form a single state that is a superposition of the two states.

This phenomenon is based on the fact that atomic particles have wave-like properties.

Quantum coherence is in many ways similar to → quantum entanglement, which involves the shared states of two quantum particles instead of two quantum waves of a single particle.

Quantum coherence and quantum entanglement are both rooted in the → superposition principle.

See also: → quantum; → coherence.