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arXiv:1412.0294 · Physical Review A

Realization of an entanglement-assisted quantum delayed-choice experiment

Tao Xin, Hang Li, Bi-Xue Wang, Gui‐Lu Long

Published Aug 28, 2015• 32 citations

Abstract

The puzzling properties of quantum mechanics, i.e., wave-particle duality, entanglement, and superposition, have been dissected experimentally over the past decades. However, hidden-variable (HV) models based on three classical assumptions of wave-particle objectivity, determinism, and independence strive to explain the same experiments or even defeat quantum mechanics. Meanwhile, the steady development of quantum technologies continues to enable us to test experimentally the predictions of quantum mechanics and HV theories. We report an experimental demonstration of an entanglement-assisted quantum delayed-choice scheme using a liquid nuclear magnetic resonance quantum-information processor. This experiment is based on the recently proposed scheme [R. Ionicioiu et al., Nat. Commun. 5. 3997 (2014)], which predicted different results for quantum mechanics and HV theories. In our experiments, the intensities and the visibilities of the interference are consistent with the theoretical predictions of quantum mechanics. The results show that a contradiction with the experiments is indeed appearing when all three assumptions of the HV models are combined, though any two of those assumptions are compatible with the experiments.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.92.022126

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Wave-particle duality of quantum objects is one of the most striking features of quantum physics and has been widely studied in past decades. Developments of quantum technologies enable us to experimentally realize several quantum phenomena. Observation of wave-particle morphing behavior in the context of the quantum delayed-choice experiment (QDCE) is one of them. Adopting the scheme of QDCE, we demonstrate how the coexistence of wave and particle nature emerges as a consequence of the uncertainty in the quantum controlled experimental setup, using a five-qubit cloud-based quantum processor. We also show that an entanglement-assisted scheme of the same reproduces the predictions of quantum mechanics. We put evidence that a local hidden variable theory is incompatible with quantum mechanical predictions by comparing the variation of intensities obtained from our experiment with hidden variable predictions.

We report an experimental demonstration of a quantum delayed-choice experiment via nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. Two spin-1/2 nuclei from each molecule of a liquid ensemble are used as target and ancilla qubits. The circuit corresponding to the recently proposed quantum delayed-choice setup has been implemented with different states of an ancilla qubit. As expected theoretically, our experiments clearly demonstrate continuous morphing of the target qubit between particle-like and wave-like behaviors. The experimental visibility of the interference patterns shows good agreement with theory.

Hidden-variable models aim to reproduce the results of quantum theory and to satisfy our classical intuition. Their refutation is usually based on deriving predictions that are different from those of quantum mechanics. Here instead we study the mutual compatibility of apparently reasonable classical assumptions. We analyze a version of the delayed-choice experiment which ostensibly combines determinism, independence of hidden variables on the conducted experiments, and wave-particle objectivity (the assertion that quantum systems are, at any moment, either particles or waves, but not both). These three ideas are incompatible with any theory, not only with quantum mechanics.

Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment delays the decision to observe either the wave or particle behavior of a photon until after it has entered the interferometer, and the quantum delayed-choice experiment provides the possibility of observing the wave and particle behaviors with a single experimental setup by introducing quantum control. We here propose a modified quantum delayed-choice experiment without quantum control or entanglement assistance, in which a photon can be prepared in a wave-particle superposition state and the morphing behavior of wave-to-particle transition can be observed easily. It is demonstrated that the presented scheme can allow us to rule out classical hidden-variable models in a device-independent manner via violating dimension witness. We also extend the scheme to the situation of two degrees of freedom, first constructing a hybrid quantum delayed-choice experiment which enables a photon respectively exhibits wave and particle behaviors in different degrees of freedom, and then proposing a scheme to prepare the single-photon wave-particle entanglement. This study is not only meaningful to explore the wave-particle complementarity of photons, but also provides potential for the research of the single-particle nonlocality from the perspective of the wave-particle degree of freedom.

Wave-particle duality has become one of the flagships of quantum mechanics. This counterintuitive concept is highlighted in a delayed-choice experiment, where the experimental setup that reveals either the particle or wave nature of a quantum system is decided after the system has entered the apparatus. Here we consider delayed-choice experiments from the perspective of device-independent causal models and show their equivalence to a prepare-and-measure scenario. Within this framework, we consider Wheeler's original proposal and its variant using a quantum control and show that a simple classical causal model is capable of reproducing the quantum mechanical predictions. Nonetheless, among other results, we show that, in a slight variant of Wheeler's gedanken experiment, a photon in an interferometer can indeed generate statistics incompatible with any nonretrocausal hidden variable model, whose dimensionality is the same as that of the quantum system it is supposed to mimic. Our proposal tolerates arbitrary losses and inefficiencies, making it specially suited to loophole-free experimental implementations.

Wave-particle duality lies at the root of quantum mechanics and is central in the description of interferences observed with elementary objects. In a delayed-choice experiment, the decision to observe the particle or wave character of a quantum system is delayed with respect to the time at which the system enters the interferometer. This paper reviews the history of the delayed-choice idea, introduced as a challenge to a realistic explanation of the wave-particle duality. It also describes recent experimental realizations of this idea and discusses intriguing extensions, such as the duality between separability and entanglement in multiple quantum systems.