Quantum interferences and their classical limit in laser driven coherent control scenarios

The analogy between Young's double-slit experiment with matter and laser driven coherent control schemes is investigated, and shown to be limited. To do so, a general decomposition of observables in the Heisenberg picture into direct terms and interference contributions is introduced, and formal quantum-classical correspondence arguments in the Heisenberg picture are employed to define classical analogs of quantum interference terms. While the classical interference contributions in the double-slit experiment are shown to be zero, they can be nonzero in laser driven coherent control schemes and lead to laser control in the classical limit. This classical limit is interpreted in terms of nonlinear response theory arguments.