Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1703.03615

A Comment on "Asking photons where they have been in plain language"

Lev Vaidman A

Published Mar 10, 2017• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The criticism of the experiment showing disconnected traces of photons passing through a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer is shown to be unfounded.
DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1703.03615

Related papers

Comment on “Paradox of photons disconnected trajectories being located by means of ‘weak measurements’ in the nested Mach–Zehnder interferometer” (JETP Letters 105, 152 (2017))

L. Vaidman

The criticism of the experiment showing discontinuous traces of photons passing through a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer is shown to be unfounded.

arXiv:1705.02137•Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters•Mar 31, 2017•17 citations

An Ideal Experiment to Determine the ‘Past of a Particle’ in the Nested Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

李福, Hashmi, 张俊香 +1 more

Chinese Physics Letters•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations

Reply to a Commentary "Asking photons where they have been without telling them what to say"

Ariel Danan, Demitry Farfurnik, Shimshon Bar-Ad +1 more

Interesting objections to conclusions of our experiment with nested interferometers raised by Salih in a recent Commentary are analysed and refuted.

arXiv:1401.5420•Jan 21, 2014•1 citation

Quantum Nonlocality of Photon Pairs in Interference in a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Pavel Trojek, Jan Peřina

Czechoslovak Journal of Physics•Apr 1, 2003•3 citations

Comment on “Which-way information in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer”

Lev Vaidman A

Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi [Phys. Rev. A 92, 023829 (2015)] provided an analysis of the experimental evidence obtained by Danan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240402 (2013)] for the surprising behavior of photons passing through an interferometer, in particular, motion on disconnected paths. Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi reproduced the results of the experiment, but when analyzing its modification, they claimed that the reasoning of Danan et al., which led to disconnected paths, is erroneous. It is argued here that the criticism of Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi is unfounded.

arXiv:1509.02388•Physical Review A•Jan 26, 2016•27 citations

Response to the comment on “Paradox of photons disconnected trajectories being located by means of ‘weak measurements’ in the nested Mach–Zehnder interferometer” (JETP Letters 105, 152 (2017))

G. N. Nikolaev

The author of the comment on my work [1] states that the proposed modification of the scheme of the experiment reported in [2] is improper and that the experiment faithfully demonstrates a discontinuous trace of photons.It is difficult to agree with this statement because of the absence of clear and well-founded (see below).In [1], I discussed the recent experiment [2] with a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The authors treated the experiment so that the past of photons is not described by continuous trajectories because photons are detected inside the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer and are not detected outside it.The idea of a small modification of the scheme of the experiment [2] has been proposed just to detect photons at the input of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer.Instead of the vibration of the mirror, the direction of polarization of light is modulated in this scheme.Further, in one of the arms of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer, this modulation is converted into a shift of the light beam of orthogonal polarization, which is then transformed to the original polarization.The realization of the idea is as follows.A birefringent plate, a phase compensator, and two polarizers that oriented at the angle of 45° and in parallel to the initial polarization are placed in one of the arms of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The same polarizers are placed in the other two arms of the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The author of the comment states that such a modification is improper because it "violates the faithfulness of the experiment because it causes different transformations of the polarization record at E into a signal at the detector, depending on the path the beam takes."The author of the comment also claims that "the signal at the detector does not present a faithful indication of the trace inside the interferometer" in the absence of con-

arXiv:1705.08721•Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters•Apr 1, 2017•7 citations
Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi [Phys. Rev. A 92, 023829 (2015)] provided an analysis of the experimental evidence obtained by Danan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240402 (2013)] for the surprising behavior of photons passing through an interferometer, in particular, motion on disconnected paths. Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi reproduced the results of the experiment, but when analyzing its modification, they claimed that the reasoning of Danan et al., which led to disconnected paths, is erroneous. It is argued here that the criticism of Poto\ifmmode \check{c}\else \v{c}\fi{}ek and Ferenczi is unfounded.
The author of the comment on my work [1] states that the proposed modification of the scheme of the experiment reported in [2] is improper and that the experiment faithfully demonstrates a discontinuous trace of photons.It is difficult to agree with this statement because of the absence of clear and well-founded (see below).In [1], I discussed the recent experiment [2] with a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The authors treated the experiment so that the past of photons is not described by continuous trajectories because photons are detected inside the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer and are not detected outside it.The idea of a small modification of the scheme of the experiment [2] has been proposed just to detect photons at the input of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer.Instead of the vibration of the mirror, the direction of polarization of light is modulated in this scheme.Further, in one of the arms of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer, this modulation is converted into a shift of the light beam of orthogonal polarization, which is then transformed to the original polarization.The realization of the idea is as follows.A birefringent plate, a phase compensator, and two polarizers that oriented at the angle of 45° and in parallel to the initial polarization are placed in one of the arms of the inner Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The same polarizers are placed in the other two arms of the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer.The author of the comment states that such a modification is improper because it "violates the faithfulness of the experiment because it causes different transformations of the polarization record at E into a signal at the detector, depending on the path the beam takes."The author of the comment also claims that "the signal at the detector does not present a faithful indication of the trace inside the interferometer" in the absence of con-