Light and waves

[HydrogenBond]

Light or energy propagates as waves. The question I have is, if you had two energy or light generators pointing at each other and they were 180 degrees out of wave phase, would they cancel? The analogy is two wave generators making waves so the troughs and crests of one will cancel the crest and troughs of another. If they cancel, where would the energy go? Would this violate the conservation of energy? Or does the conservation of energy suggest that although the waves cancel, the particle aspect would conserve the energy without the wave?

[Overdog]

My understanding is that the places where the light waves cancel is actually a reflection of the probability of finding a photon in that location. I think of the photons as traveling in multiple paths of "probability waves"...with the dark spots in interference patterns being the places where the probability of the photon traveling there is zero. But the photon would still exist, just not there at that moment in time...

 

Quantum interference of light

 

I'm not sure if my understanding is correct, however...I'm sure someone better versed in quantum mechanics will straighten me out though...;)