Do Bloch Waves Interfere With One Another ?

Here we show that two Bloch states, which are energy eigenstates of a quantum periodic potential problem, with different wavevectors can not be linearly superposed to display quantum interference of any kind that captures the relative phase between them. This is due to the existence of a superselection rule in these systems, whose origin lies in the discrete translation symmetry. A topological reason leading to such a superselection is found. A temporal analogue of this superselection rule in periodically driven quantum systems is also uncovered, which forbids the coherent superposition of any two quasi-periodic Floquet states with different quasienergies. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.