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Physical Review A

Stochastic and deterministic absorption in single-photon interference experiments

Kayoko Awaya, Makoto Tomita

Published Nov 1, 1997• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We performed single-photon interference experiments with neutral density filters and slow beam choppers to confirm the difference between stochastic and deterministic absorption and obtained results that agreed with the case of neutron-interference experiments and quantum theory.
DOI
10.1103/physreva.56.4106

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Experiments with absorbing foils, beam choppers, or an absorbing lattice in one path of a neutron interferometer to expose the difference between stochastic and deterministic absorption in quantum mechanics are reported. The different amplitudes of the interference patterns in stochastic and deterministic absorption when the absorption probability is the same were observed in agreement with prediction. Also the possibility of a gradual transition from deterministic to stochastic absorption was experimentally investigated.
Absorbers and other beam attenuators inside a neutron interferometer have different influences on the interference pattern, ranging from a stochastic to a deterministic situation. We show that in the quantum limit a smooth transition between both cases is possible. The quantum limit can be approached when using thin absorption gratings, very fast choppers, or rapidly changing fields. The nonremoval probability of neutrons from the original phase space is identified as a crucial quantity describing these phenomena. Experimental results obtained with thin absorption gratings are in agreement with these formulations.
It has been suggested that a single photon can interfere with itself even if the difference between the two paths in the interferometer is larger than the ``length'' of the photon [Kessel' and Moiseev, JETP Lett. 58, 81 (1993)]. The interference is regained by detecting the photons using a photon-echo process, where the absorbing atoms will, effectively, act as narrow-band filters. Such an experiment has several unique features. For example, single photons are used to carry out what is generally regarded as a multiphoton process; the absorption of a single photon can be regarded as separated into two different moments in time; the fact that the single-photon interference is regained using atoms acting as narrow-band filters as the detector means that the control of the detection process is quite different from cases where electronic (or possibly photographic) detection is used to register the interference etc. In general, interference and absorption are combined and intertwined in the experiment, which is discussed in this paper, in a way that has not been done before. In the present paper the possibility to carry out such an experiment in practice is investigated in some detail. The signal strength is explicitly calculated and the results are compared with our experimental data for the case of many interfering photons. We imply that this result can readily be extrapolated to the single-photon situation. We analyze the material parameters that are important for carrying out the experiment and give specific examples of some suitable materials.
Single-particle interference phenomena can be observed with neutrons, and the "entanglement of degrees of freedom", i.e. the contextuality, can be verified and used in further experiments. Entanglement of two photons or atoms is a complementary situation to the double-slit diffraction of a single photon, neutron, or atom. In this respect, neutrons are proper tools for testing quantum mechanics, because they are massive, they couple to electromagnetic fields due to their magnetic moment, and they are subject to all basic interactions, and they are sensitive to topological effects as well. The4π-symmetry of spinor wave functions, the spin-superposition law, and many topological phenomena can be made visible, which shows interesting intrinsic features of quantum physics. Related experiments will be discussed. Deterministic and stochastic partial absorption experiments can be described by Bell-type inequalities. Recent neutron interferometry experiments based on post-selection methods have renewed the discussion about quantum non-locality and the quantum measuring process. It has been shown that interference phenomena can be revived even when the overall interference pattern has lost its contrast. This indicates a persisting coupling in the phase space even in cases of spatially separated Schrödinger cat-like situations. These states are extremely fragile and sensitive against any kind of fluctuations and other de-coherence processes. More complete quantum experiments also show that a complete retrieval of quantum states behind an interaction volume becomes impossible in principle.
Neutrons are proper tools for testing quantum mechanics because they are massive, they couple to electromagnetic fields due to their magnetic moment and they are subject to all basic interactions and they are sensitive to topological effects, as well. Related experiments will be discussed. Deterministic and stochastic partial absorption experiments can be described by Bell-type inequalities. Recent neutron interferometry experiments based on postselection methods renewed the discussion about quantum nonlocality and the quantum measuring process. It has been shown that interference phenomena can be revived even when the overall interference pattem has lost its contrast. This indicates a persisting coupling in phase space even in cases of spatially separated Schrödingercat-like situations. These states are extremely fragile and sensitive against any kind of fluctuations and other decoherence processes. More complete quantum experiments also show that a complete retrieval of quantum states behind an interaction volume becomes impossible in principle. First results of neutron quantum state reconstruction experiments will be presented.