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arXiv:1101.4325 · Physical Review A

Wave-particle duality and polarization properties of light in single-photon interference experiments

Mayukh Lahiri

Published Apr 19, 2011• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider superposition of two states of light polarized along mutually orthogonal directions. We show that partial polarization of the superposed light may be interpreted as a manifestation of the wave-particle duality.
DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.045803

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A single photon exhibits wave-particle duality in the Young's double-slit interferometer. The duality character-ized by an interference visibilityVVVas the wave-like property and a which-path informationDDDas the particle-like property has tradeoff relationD2+V2≤1D^{2}+V^{2}\leq 1D2+V2≤1known as complementarity [1]–[3]. There are a lot of studies about the complementary nature of photons from various viewpoints such as delayed-choice experiments, theoretical works related to the uncertainty principle, and so on. More recently, studies have expanded the concept of the wave-particle duality to higher-order interferometric scenarios, in which the input light includes two or more pho-tons [4], [5]. Despite having a long history, all previous studies have been related to phase correlation of optical states, which reason would be why the main focus in the first place is the investigation of the mysterious quantum nature of a photon, including the superposition principle.
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