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Physical Review A

Quantum theory of dynamic interference experiments

N. Hussain, N. Imoto, R. Loudon

Published Feb 1, 1992• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We calculate the first-order interference-fringe visibilities for Mach-Zehnder interferometers in which the input beam splitting has time-varying reflection and transmission coefficients. Particular attention is given to single-photon input states, and it is shown that fringes persist in appropriate conditions even for a beam splitter that alternates between complete transmission and complete reflection. The similar behavior found for input coherent and chaotic light confirms the single-photon nature of first-order interference. The states of excitation of the internal arms of the interferometer are derived and discussed in the context of delayed-choice experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.45.1987

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We calculate the first-order interference-fringe visibilities for Mach-Zehnder interferometers in which the input beam splitting has time-varying reflection and transmission coefficients. Particular attention is given to single-photon input states, and it is shown that fringes persist in appropriate conditions even for a beam splitter that alternates between complete transmission and complete reflection. The similar behavior found for input coherent and chaotic light confirms the single-photon nature of first-order interference. The states of excitation of the internal arms of the interferometer are derived and discussed in the context of delayed-choice experiments.
We report an experimental test of quantum complementarity with single-photon pulses sent into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an output beam splitter of adjustable reflection coefficient R. In addition, the experiment is realized in Wheeler's delayed-choice regime. Each randomly set value of R allows us to observe interference with visibility V and to obtain incomplete which-path information characterized by the distinguishability parameter D. Measured values of V and D are found to fulfill the complementarity relation V2+D2 < or =1.
We present experimental demonstrations of two-photon interference involving temporally separated photons within two types of interferometers: a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a polarization-based Michelson interferometer. The two-photon states are probabilistically prepared in a symmetrically superposed state within the two interferometer arms by introducing a large time delay between two input photons; this state is composed of two temporally separated photons, which are in two different or the same spatial modes. We then observe two-photon interference fringes involving both the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference effect and the interference of path-entangled two-photon states simultaneously in a single interferometric setup. The observed two-photon interference fringes provide simultaneous observation of the interferometric properties of the single-photon and two-photon wavepackets. The observations can also facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the origins of the interference phenomena arising from spatially bunched/anti-bunched two-photon states comprised of two temporally separated photons within the interferometer arms.
We perform a time-resolved quantum interference experiment based on the effect of induced coherence without induced emission using two pulsed parametric down-conversion sources. We periodically vary the transmission of the first source's idler beam and measure the time-dependent visibility of fringes in the interference between the two signal beams. The visibility is found to be correlated with the transmissivity with a time delay corresponding to a combined path of the first idler and the second signal beam. The experiment is discussed in the context of the delayed choice experiments.
Wave-particle complementarity is one of the most intriguing features of quantum physics. To emphasize this measurement apparatus-dependent nature, experiments have been performed in which the output beam splitter of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is inserted or removed after a photon has already entered the device. A recent extension suggested using a quantum beam splitter at the interferometer's output; we achieve this using pairs of polarization-entangled photons. One photon is tested in the interferometer and is detected, whereas the other allows us to determine whether wave, particle, or intermediate behaviors have been observed. Furthermore, this experiment allows us to continuously morph the tested photon's behavior from wavelike to particle-like, which illustrates the inadequacy of a naive wave or particle description of light.
The chapter discusses the Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI), which uses beam splitters in combination with mirrors to place a photon into a superposition of paths. In a final beam splitter, the two paths may be recombined to interfere, showing wave behavior. If the final beam splitter is removed, the photon is definitely in one path or the other, showing particle behavior. The polarization of light allows additional applications—one can use a polarizing beam splitter to separate and reconstitute the wave functions of a photon polarized at an angle. In a delayed-choice experiment, one decides which kind of experiment one is to do, particle or wave, after the photon has already entered the arms of the MZI. The chapter discusses a version of this that puts the MZI and a second-detector photon in an entangled state of particle and wave results.