dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaViolation of the principle of Complementarity, and its implications
| Authors | Shahriar S. Afshar |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0701027 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0701027 |
| DOI | 10.1117/12.638774 |
| Journal | Proc. SPIE 5866 (2005) 229-244 |
Abstract
Bohr's principle of complementarity predicts that in a welcher weg ("which-way") experiment, obtaining fully visible interference pattern should lead to the destruction of the path knowledge. Here I report a failure for this prediction in an optical interferometry experiment. Coherent laser light is passed through a dual pinhole and allowed to go through a converging lens, which forms well-resolved images of the respective pinholes, providing complete path knowledge. A series of thin wires are then placed at previously measured positions corresponding to the dark fringes of the interference pattern upstream of the lens. No reduction in the resolution and total radiant flux of either image is found in direct disagreement with the predictions of the principle of complementarity. In this paper, a critique of the current measurement theory is offered, and a novel nonperturbative technique for ensemble properties is introduced. Also, another version of this experiment without an imaging lens is suggested, and some of the implications of the violation of complementarity for another suggested experiment to investigate the nature of the photon and its "empty wave" is briefly discussed.
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"abstract": "Bohr\u0027s principle of complementarity predicts that in a welcher weg\n(\"which-way\") experiment, obtaining fully visible interference pattern should\nlead to the destruction of the path knowledge. Here I report a failure for this\nprediction in an optical interferometry experiment. Coherent laser light is\npassed through a dual pinhole and allowed to go through a converging lens,\nwhich forms well-resolved images of the respective pinholes, providing complete\npath knowledge. A series of thin wires are then placed at previously measured\npositions corresponding to the dark fringes of the interference pattern\nupstream of the lens. No reduction in the resolution and total radiant flux of\neither image is found in direct disagreement with the predictions of the\nprinciple of complementarity. In this paper, a critique of the current\nmeasurement theory is offered, and a novel nonperturbative technique for\nensemble properties is introduced. Also, another version of this experiment\nwithout an imaging lens is suggested, and some of the implications of the\nviolation of complementarity for another suggested experiment to investigate\nthe nature of the photon and its \"empty wave\" is briefly discussed.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0701027",
"authors": [
"Shahriar S. Afshar"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1117/12.638774",
"journal_ref": "Proc. SPIE 5866 (2005) 229-244",
"title": "Violation of the principle of Complementarity, and its implications",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0701027"
},
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