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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Time-resolved double-slit interference pattern measurement with entangled photons

Piotr Leszek Kolenderski, Carmelo Scarcella, Kelsey D. Johnsen, Deny R. Hamel, Catherine Holloway, Krister Shalm, Simone Tisa, Alberto Tosi, Kevin J. Resch, Thomas D. Jennewein

Published May 1, 2013• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. The essence of wave-particle duality is that particles passing through slits form a pattern that can only be explained by resorting to wave mechanics. Here we present results that provide insight into the buildup of the multiple-slit interference pattern. The perfect time resolved measurements would ideally involve a single-particle source and an array of single-particle noiseless detectors featuring perfect quantum efficiency and time resolution. In previous experiments for electrons [1], photons [2] and molecules [3], detection of single particles was limited by minimum acquisition times, thus denying access to precise timing information. We make a significant step forward, approaching the perfect measurement very closely and showing real-time interference pattern buildup of single-photon detections as a result of passing through a system of multiple slits. These measurements accessed precise timing information, allowing us to analyse the interference pattern's formation process and effects of entanglement.

DOI
10.1109/cleoe-iqec.2013.6801616

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We construct proper microscopic propositions to consistently capture and explain the interference patterns obtained for electrons and photons, detected individually or otherwise, in one- and two-slit experiments. We propose that for single-photon detections (after time integration), no interference pattern is obtained if one uses non-transparent slit material with slit holes (not diffraction slits). The non-transparent slit material does not permit photons to transmit, reflect internally nor refract. However, the same slit holes can produce the usual interference pattern with electromagnetic waves due to interfering in-phase and out-of-phase light waves. As for the electrons, detected individually or not, partial interference patterns can always be obtained from the two-slit experiment when one of the slits is closed (one at a time), which then can be manually overlapped to produce the complete interference pattern of a double-slit experiment. These new theoretically constructed experimental results for photons and electrons can be readily verified with our current technology using suitable optically non-transparent (for photons) and highly insulating (for electrons) slit materials.

Results in Optics•Feb 10, 2024•0 citations
Summary form only given. The essence of wave-particle duality is that particles passing through slits form a pattern that can only be explained by resorting to wave mechanics. Here we present results that provide insight into the buildup of the multiple-slit interference pattern. The perfect time resolved measurements would ideally involve a single-particle source and an array of single-particle noiseless detectors featuring perfect quantum efficiency and time resolution. In previous experiments for electrons [1], photons [2] and molecules [3], detection of single particles was limited by minimum acquisition times, thus denying access to precise timing information. We make a significant step forward, approaching the perfect measurement very closely and showing real-time interference pattern buildup of single-photon detections as a result of passing through a system of multiple slits. These measurements accessed precise timing information, allowing us to analyse the interference pattern's formation process and effects of entanglement.
The double-slit experiment strikingly demonstrates the wave-particle duality of quantum objects. In this famous experiment, particles pass one-by-one through a pair of slits and are detected on a distant screen. A distinct wave-like pattern emerges after many discrete particle impacts as if each particle is passing through both slits and interfering with itself. Here we present a temporally- and spatially-resolved measurement of the double-slit interference pattern using single photons. We send single photons through a birefringent double-slit apparatus and use a linear array of single-photon detectors to observe the developing interference pattern. The analysis of the buildup allows us to compare quantum mechanics and the corpuscular model, which aims to explain the mystery of single-particle interference. Finally, we send one photon from an entangled pair through our double-slit setup and show the dependence of the resulting interference pattern on the twin photon's measured state. Our results provide new insight into the dynamics of the buildup process in the double-slit experiment, and can be used as a valuable resource in quantum information applications.
Full text: We present two experiments on single- and two-particle interference. In the single-photon interference experiment, photons from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) source are send through a double slit. An interference pattern is built up frame by frame from shots obtained with an EMCCD camera behind the slit. Each frame contains on average less than one photon, thus demonstrating true single-photon sensitivity of the camera. The build-up of the interference pattern nicely demonstrates the concept of wave-particle duality. In a next step, we describe the Heisenberg's lens experiment and present the conditions required to analyse and investigate the spatial correlations of momentum entangled photons produced by SPDC. The occurrence of double-slit interference now depends on the experimental arrangement for the second photon of the pair, for example: interference can only occur if the second photon is also passing a double slit. We present an analysis of such a double-double-slit experiment. (author)
The particle- interference-experiments, with the photons and electrons have clearly shown that they are always detected as localized „particles‟; and the density of their detections exhibit a pattern similar to the interference of waves. This experimental-observation is now explained here, making the current, „probabilistic interpretation‟, a past history. The „particle ‟ is first mathematically characterized as an „impulse function ‟ in space; and then Fourier-transformed into the wave-number-domain, as a wide band of constituent-waves as shown in the fig. 1&2. The „particle ‟ is explained as an „event ‟ of constructive-superimposition of a wide band of „pre-quantum-waves‟. This „event ‟ occurs in space at regular distances; and at regular instances in time. We know that even the purest monochromatic laser source has a „line-width ‟ of a few Giga-Hertz, or at least a few kilo-Hertz. So in the particle-interference-experiments, they are these wide bands of waves which pass through both the slits, even in the case of single photon states, and interfere physically. This physical interference of the wide bands of pre-quantum-waves determines the position and time of emergence of the „particle‟. Thus, form the theoretical view-point, there are only the waves, and waves alone; and the „particle ‟ is a specific situation of constructive-superimposition of all the spectral-components of pre-quantum-waves; so there is no wave-particle-duality.
We construct proper microscopic propositions to consistently explain the interference patterns obtained for electrons and photons in well-defined one- and two-slit experiments. Our propositions are also made explicit on the basis of quantum mechanics with proper quantitative analysis to support the correctness of the physical mechanisms proposed herein, which obey the wave-particle duality. In particular, our propositions and theoretical analysis demonstrate that for single-photon detection (after time integration), we cannot produce interference pattern if the usual diffraction slits are replaced with slit holes such that the non-transparent slit material does not permit photons to transmit, reflect internally or refract. However, the said non-transparent slit material with slit holes can produce the usual interference pattern with electromagnetic waves.
We present time-resolved diffraction and two-slit interference experiments using a streak camera as a detector for femtosecond pulses of photons. These experiments show how the diffraction pattern is built by adding frames of a few photons to each frame. It is estimated that after 300 photons the diffraction pattern emerges. With time resolution we can check the speed of light and put an upper limit of 2 ps at our resolution to the time for wave function collapse in the quantum measurement process. We then produce interference experiments with photons of different energies impinging on the slits, i.e. we know which photon impinges on each slit. We show that for poor time resolution, no interference is observed, but for high time resolution, we have interference that is revealed as beats of 100 GHz frequency. The condition for interference is that the two pulses should overlap spatially at the detector, even if the pulses have different energies but are generated from the same pulse of the laser. The interference seems to be in agreement with classical theory at first sight. However, closer study and analysis of the data show deviations in the visibility of the interference fringes and of their phase. These experiments are discussed in connection with quantum mechanics and it may be concluded that the time resolution provides new data for understanding the longstanding and continuing arguments on wave-particle duality initiated by Newton, Young, Fresnel, Planck and others. A thought experiment is presented in the appendix to try to distinguish the photons at the detector by making it sensitive to colour.
We construct proper microscopic propositions to consistently capture and explain the interference patterns obtained for electrons and photons, detected individually or otherwise, in one- and two-slit experiments. We propose that for single-photon detections (after time integration), no interference pattern is obtained if one uses non-transparent slit material with slit holes (not diffraction slits). The non-transparent slit material does not permit photons to transmit, reflect internally nor refract. However, the same slit holes can produce the usual interference pattern with electromagnetic waves due to interfering in-phase and out-of-phase light waves. As for the electrons, detected individually or not, partial interference patterns can always be obtained from the two-slit experiment when one of the slits is closed (one at a time), which then can be manually overlapped to produce the complete interference pattern of a double-slit experiment. These new theoretically constructed experimental results for photons and electrons can be readily verified with our current technology using suitable optically non-transparent (for photons) and highly insulating (for electrons) slit materials.