Wave-Particle Dualism and Complementarity Unraveled by a Different Mode
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Wave-particle dualism and complementarity unraveled by a different mode Ralf Menzela,1, Dirk Puhlmanna, Axel Heuera, and Wolfgang P. Schleichb aPhotonik, Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam, D14476 Potsdam, Germany; and bInstitut für Quantenphysik and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Universität Ulm, D89069 Ulm, Germany Edited by* Marlan O. Scully, Texas A&M and Princeton Universities, College Station, TX, and Princeton, NJ, and approved April 16, 2012 (received for review January 23, 2012) The precise knowledge of one of two complementary experimen- surprising because which-slit information about the signal photon tal outcomes prevents us from obtaining complete information is “available” and therefore the principle of complementarity about the other one. This formulation of Niels Bohr’s principle of suggests no interference. The explanation of this puzzling experi- complementarity when applied to the paradigm of wave-particle mental observation springs from the transverse mode structure dualism—that is, to Young’s double-slit experiment—implies that of the pump with two intensity maxima that creates a superposi- the information about the slit through which a quantum particle tion of two macroscopically distinguishable wave vectors of the has passed erases interference. In the present paper we report a signal photon. In the case of a Gaussian pump with a single max- double-slit experiment using two photons created by spontaneous imum no such superposition arises (18). parametric down-conversion where we observe interference in the signal photon despite the fact that we have located it in one Our Experiment of the slits due to its entanglement with the idler photon. This sur- We now briefly describe our experimental setup and then discuss prising aspect of complementarity comes to light by our special our results. For a more detailed description of this experiment we refer to Materials and Methods. choice of the TEM01 pump mode. According to quantum field the- ory the signal photon is then in a coherent superposition of two distinct wave vectors giving rise to interference fringes analogous Experimental Setup. In contrast to the standard arrangement of PHYSICS to two mechanical slits. SPDC in our experiment summarized in Fig. 1 the pump laser was in the TEM01 mode, which displays two distinct maxima. The re- sulting two intensity maxima of signal and idler photon at the exit he double-slit experiment has served as a source of inspiration of the beta barium borate (BBO) crystal are imaged with the help for more than two centuries. Indeed, Thomas Young (1) has T of a lens and a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) onto the two slits used it to argue in favor of the wave theory of light rather than the of a double-slit and onto a single-photon counting detector* D1. corpuscular one of Isaac Newton (2). In the early days of quan- Because the distances from the fiber of D1 to PBS and from the tum mechanics it was central to the dialogue (3) between Albert double-slit to PBS are identical the two light spots of the signal Einstein and Bohr on epistemological problems in atomic phy- photons in the two slits are identical to the two spots of the idler sics. Moreover, it was the starting point of the path integral for- photon on D1. Moreover, the intensity of the pump beam is low mulation (4) of quantum mechanics by Richard Feynman. enough to ensure that only one photon pair was created at a mea- Today the question of “which-slit” versus “interference” in the suring time interval. double-slit configuration (5) is as fascinating and relevant (6) as it We have first recorded the intensity distribution shown in Fig. 2 was in the early days of quantum mechanics. In particular, the using an electron multiplying charge coupled device (EMCCD) understanding of the physical origin (7) of the disappearance camera (Ixon 897, Andor) placed at the position of the double- of the fringes in the presence of which-slit information has come slit. The individual pixels of size 16 μm × 16 μm are clearly visi- a long way. Werner Heisenberg in the context of the uncertainty ble in the picture. Moreover, the intensity in the centerline is not relation (8), Bohr in his discussion with Einstein (3) on the recoil- exactly zero, which most likely is due to imperfections of the ing slit, and others (9) have argued in favor of an uncontrollable imaging. momentum transfer (7). However, the Gedanken experiments of the quantum eraser (10) and the micromaser “welcher Weg” Which-Slit Information. Next we demonstrate that the entangle- detector (11) have identified entanglement and the availability of ment between signal and idler photon provides us with which-slit information as the main culprit. Indeed, the seminal atom inter- information. For this purpose we replace the EMCCD camera ferometer experiment (12) as well as the realization (13) of the by the double-slit and put another detector D2 on a motorized quantum eraser have made a clear decision against momentum translation stage behind the double-slit. With this arrangement transfer in favor of entanglement. As a result, today the principle the near-field correlations between the signal and the idler of complementarity (14) is widely accepted (15) in the form (16): photons depicted on the lower right of Fig. 3 were obtained as a function of the vertical and horizontal position of D2. Through- “If information on one complementary variable is in prin- out these measurements the location of D1 was fixed either inside ‘ ’ … ciple available even if we choose not to know it we will the upper or lower spot of the TEM01 mode structure as indicated lose the possibility of knowing the precise value of the by the two magnifying glasses on the left side of the figure. The other complementary variable.” In the present paper we report the results of a double-slit Author contributions: R.M. designed research; R.M., D.P., A.H., and W.P.S. performed experiment that brings out an additional layer of this principle. research; and R.M. and W.P.S. wrote the paper. We employ the entanglement between the signal and the idler The authors declare no conflict of interest. photon created in spontaneous parametric down-conversion *This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor. (SPDC) (17) to obtain by a coincidence measurement of the two Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. photons which-slit information about the signal photon without *As single-photon counting modules we employ PerkinElmer SPCM-AQR-15 avalanche ever touching it. Moreover, we observe in a separate coincidence photo diodes coupled by a multimode graded index fiber of a core diameter 62.5 μm experiment interference fringes in the signal photon. This result is 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1201271109 PNAS Early Edition ∣ 1of6 Downloaded by guest on October 1, 2021 Fig. 1. Artist’s view of our experimental setup for the simultaneous observation of which-slit information and interference in Young’s double-slit experiment. We pump a nonlinear crystal (BBO) with a laser (blue) in a mode (TEM01) with two distinct maxima and separate the emerging signal (red) and idler (green) photons by a polarizing beam splitter (PBS). A lens images the two intensity maxima at the exit of the crystal shown by the magnifying glass on the right onto the two openings of the double-slit (signal photon) or onto the plane of the detector D1 (idler photon). We observe in coincidence the signal and the idler photon. The detector D2 is located either just behind, or far away from, the two slits. origin of the y axis is not halfway between the two slits but is de- dard double-slit far-field intensity formula discussed in Materials termined by the scale of the translation stage. and Methods. The evaluation of the experimental data yields a contrast ratio of about 1% cross correlation photons. Thus, from all the First-Order Single-Photon Interference. Finally, we have taken pic- photons measured behind the slit in coincidence with the refer- tures of the interference pattern formed by the signal photons ence detector, at least 99% were passing through the related slit in the far field of the double-slit with the EMCCD camera. (upper-upper or lower-lower), and only 1% in maximum passed We emphasize that in this case we do not measure in coincidence through the other slit (upper-lower or lower-upper) as a result of with the idler photons; that is, we collect all signal photons with- measurement errors. This experimental result confirms that photons measured in coincidence with the two selected positions of a reference detector are passing with at least 99% probability just through the one selected slit. Interference and Which-Slit Information. Next we have performed the which-slit and interference correlation experiment outlined in Fig. 4. We have moved the detector D2 into the far field of the double-slit and have measured as a function of its vertical position the signal photons in coincidence with the idler photons recorded on D1 positioned in this experiment at the lower spot corresponding to the bottom part of Fig. 3. In the lower part of Fig. 4 we show the results of this coincidence measurement. We emphasize that the interference fringes of the signal photons in the far field of the double-slit are clearly visible while from the measurement of the idler photon probing the near field we also obtain the related which-slit information. Indeed, because in this case D1 was placed onto the lower spot the signal photon must have gone through the lower slit.