Delayed-Choice Gedanken Experiments and Their Realizations
Delayed-choice gedanken experiments and their realizations Xiao-song Ma∗ Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna, Austria Department of Electrical Engineering, Yale University, 15 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China Johannes Koflery Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany Anton Zeilingerz Vienna Center of Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ), University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna, Austria The wave-particle duality dates back to Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect through quanta of light and de Broglie's hypothesis of matter waves. Quantum mechan- ics uses an abstract description for the behavior of physical systems such as photons, electrons, or atoms. Whether quantum predictions for single systems in an interferomet- ric experiment allow an intuitive understanding in terms of the particle or wave picture, depends on the specific configuration which is being used. In principle, this leaves open the possibility that quantum systems always behave either definitely as a particle or definitely as a wave in every experimental run by a priori adapting to the specific ex- perimental situation. This is precisely what is tried to be excluded by delayed-choice experiments, in which the observer chooses to reveal the particle or wave character of a quantum system { or even a continuous transformation between the two { at a late stage of the experiment.
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