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Applied Optics

Holographic quantum eraser experiment reveals polarization structure of depolarized light

Gerhard K. Ackermann, Jürgen Eichler

Published Oct 14, 2008• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is shown that a holographic setup for real-time interferometry can be used to realize a quantum eraser (QE) experiment. Circular polarized light is used to distinguish between the photons of the reconstructed image of the object and the direct object wave consisting of scattered photons from the illuminated flat object. To erase the "which path information," a linear polarizer is used. The experimental results show that polarized light, after depolarizing reflection from a dielectric surface, contains an internal polarization structure, which can be described extending the well-known Jones vector formalism.

DOI
10.1364/ao.47.005660

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It is shown that a holographic setup for real-time interferometry can be used to realize a quantum eraser (QE) experiment. Circular polarized light is used to distinguish between the photons of the reconstructed image of the object and the direct object wave consisting of scattered photons from the illuminated flat object. To erase the "which path information," a linear polarizer is used. The experimental results show that polarized light, after depolarizing reflection from a dielectric surface, contains an internal polarization structure, which can be described extending the well-known Jones vector formalism.
We have observed an effect known as a quantum eraser, using a setup similar to one previously employed to demonstrate a violation of Bell's inequalities. In this effect, an interfering system is first rendered incoherent by making the alternate Feynman paths which contribute to the overall process distinguishable; with our apparatus this is achieved by placing a half wave plate in one arm of a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer so as to rotate the polarization of the light in that arm by 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. This adds information to the system, in that polarization is a new parameter which serves to label the path of a given photon, even after a recombining beam splitter. The quantum ``eraser'' removes this information from the state vector, after the output port of the interferometer, but in time to cause interference effects to reappear upon coincidence detection. For this purpose, we use two polarizers in front of our detectors. We present experimental results showing how the degree of erasure (which determines the visibility of the interference) depends on the relative orientation of the polarizers, along with theoretical curves. In addition, we show how this procedure may do more than merely erase, in that the act of ``pasting together'' two previously distinguishable paths can introduce a new relative phase between them.
In a delayed-choice quantum eraser, interference fringes are obtained by erasing which-way information after the interfering particle has already been irreversibly detected. Following an introductory review of delayed-choice experiments and quantum erasure, we describe the experimental realization of an optical delayed-choice quantum eraser, suitable for advanced undergraduates, based on polarization-entangled pairs of single photons. In our experiment, the delay of the erasure is implemented using two different setups. The first setup employs an arrangement of mirrors to increase the optical path length of the photons carrying which-way information. In the second setup, we use fiber-optic cables to elongate the path of these photons after their passage through the polarization analyzer but prior to their arrival at the detector. We compare our results to data obtained in the absence of a delay and find excellent agreement. This shows that the timing of the erasure is irrelevant, as also predicted by quantum mechanics. The experiment can serve as a valuable pedagogical tool for conveying the fundamentals of quantum mechanics.
Youngs double slit experiment is one of the most celebrated achievements in quantum and classical optics; it provides experimental proof of the wave-particle duality of light. When the paths of the double slit are marked with orthogonal polarizations, the path information is revealed and no interference pattern is observed. However, the path information can be erased with a complimentary analysis of the polarization. Here we use hybrid entanglement between photons carrying orbital angular momentum and polarization to show that, just as in Young's experiment, the paths (OAM) marked with polarization do not lead to interference. However, when introducing the eraser (polarizer) which projects the polarization of one of the entangled photons onto a complementary polarization basis, the OAM (paths) are allowed to interfere, leading to the formation of azimuthal fringes whose frequency is proportional to the OAM content carried by the photon.
The quantum eraser experiment was revisited, using entangled photons of visible light in a Hong-Ou-Handel type interferometer with a magnitude two orders higher than before in count rates. We introduced which-path information by polarization and subsequently erasied this information by means of polarizers in front of detectors. It was found that the visibility of the interference fringe is revived from 0% to 88% as the polarizers are changed from 0 ∘^{\circ}∘ to 45 ∘^{\circ}∘ .
We report a quantum-eraser experiment with frequency-entangled photon pairs generated by nondegenerate parametric down conversion. The relationship between which-path information and two-photon fringe visibility has been investigated by means of photon polarizations in a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer. Although photons are not of the same frequency and are not superposed at the beam splitter, the results of the experiment show the revival of the fringe pattern by removing the path information in the interferometer by means of polarizations in front of the detectors.