dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaUncoupling Which-Way Information from Interference: A Novel Interference Experiment using a Super-Focused Laser Beam
| Authors | Johan Wulleman |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0612163 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0612163 |
| Journal | J. Wulleman, Concepts of Physics 3 (2006) 211-261, available from http://merlin.fic.uni.lodz.pl/concepts/index.htm |
Abstract
The generally accepted view in quantum theory is that information about which way the quantum system traveled and interference visibility are complementary. In all which-way experiments, however, an intervention takes place in the interference process in order to determine which way the quantum system took. This intervention can imply the tagging of a which-way marker to a quantum system or, for instance, blocking off one of the paths in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer so that one indirectly knows that the quantum system took the other (open) path. It is, however, this intervention that destroys the interference. In this paper a novel two-slit which-way interference experiment will be discussed and proposed for implementation that provides maximum which-way information without intervening in the interference process so that simultaneously maximum interference visibility remains preserved. This, in fact, implies an uncoupling of which-way information from interference and consequently also entails violating the duality relation P^2+V^2<1. Basically, the purpose of the proposed experiment and of this paper is to scrutinize this duality relation. The experiment makes use of a super-focused laser beam that is launched into only one of the two slits of the two-slit interference experiment.
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"abstract": "The generally accepted view in quantum theory is that information about which\nway the quantum system traveled and interference visibility are complementary.\nIn all which-way experiments, however, an intervention takes place in the\ninterference process in order to determine which way the quantum system took.\nThis intervention can imply the tagging of a which-way marker to a quantum\nsystem or, for instance, blocking off one of the paths in a Mach-Zehnder\ninterferometer so that one indirectly knows that the quantum system took the\nother (open) path. It is, however, this intervention that destroys the\ninterference. In this paper a novel two-slit which-way interference experiment\nwill be discussed and proposed for implementation that provides maximum\nwhich-way information without intervening in the interference process so that\nsimultaneously maximum interference visibility remains preserved. This, in\nfact, implies an uncoupling of which-way information from interference and\nconsequently also entails violating the duality relation P^2+V^2\u003c1. Basically,\nthe purpose of the proposed experiment and of this paper is to scrutinize this\nduality relation. The experiment makes use of a super-focused laser beam that\nis launched into only one of the two slits of the two-slit interference\nexperiment.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0612163",
"authors": [
"Johan Wulleman"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"journal_ref": "J. Wulleman, Concepts of Physics 3 (2006) 211-261, available from\n http://merlin.fic.uni.lodz.pl/concepts/index.htm",
"title": "Uncoupling Which-Way Information from Interference: A Novel Interference Experiment using a Super-Focused Laser Beam",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0612163"
},
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