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Inquiry Queen s Undergraduate Research Conference Proceedings

Exploring the Phenomena of a Quantum Eraser in Young’s Double Slit Experiment

Alexander Shaw, Trevor G. Vrckovnik, Billy Thorpe, Christian Sprang

Published Apr 15, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This experiment explores the quantum phenomenon known as the Quantum Eraser, using a variation of Young’s Double Slit experiment. Young’s Double Slit experiment demonstrates that light acts as a wave by creating an interference pattern when diffracted through two slits. If one measures which of the two slits the photons pass through, then the interference pattern is replaced by a single bright spot, as would be expected for particle-like behaviour. The “Quantum Eraser” eliminates the measurement on the photons, thereby reintroducing the interference pattern observed in Young’s original experiment. The experiment’s first stage saw Young’s Double Slit experiment recreated and an interference pattern was observed. Upon adding two orthogonally polarized filters, the photon’s path was measured, and the interference pattern was removed. By then adding a third filter which was polarized 45O relative to both other polarisers, the interference pattern was somewhat restored. For each experiment, the heights of the peaks in the interference patterns were compared to each other to examine the quality of the reproduced interference pattern based on the original double slit interference pattern. This comparison gave a quantitative result that demonstrated that the Quantum Eraser was able to restore the interference pattern to within 5 standard errors, thereby exemplifying the effect that changing the measurement conditions affects the final measurement.

DOI
10.24908/iqurcp.14018

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This experiment explores the quantum phenomenon known as the Quantum Eraser, using a variation of Young’s Double Slit experiment. Young’s Double Slit experiment demonstrates that light acts as a wave by creating an interference pattern when diffracted through two slits. If one measures which of the two slits the photons pass through, then the interference pattern is replaced by a single bright spot, as would be expected for particle-like behaviour. The “Quantum Eraser” eliminates the measurement on the photons, thereby reintroducing the interference pattern observed in Young’s original experiment. The experiment’s first stage saw Young’s Double Slit experiment recreated and an interference pattern was observed. Upon adding two orthogonally polarized filters, the photon’s path was measured, and the interference pattern was removed. By then adding a third filter which was polarized 45O relative to both other polarisers, the interference pattern was somewhat restored. For each experiment, the heights of the peaks in the interference patterns were compared to each other to examine the quality of the reproduced interference pattern based on the original double slit interference pattern. This comparison gave a quantitative result that demonstrated that the Quantum Eraser was able to restore the interference pattern to within 5 standard errors, thereby exemplifying the effect that changing the measurement conditions affects the final measurement.
We report a quantum eraser experiment which actually uses a Young double slit to create interference. The experiment can be considered an optical analogy of an experiment proposed by Scully, Englert, and Walther [Nature (London) 351, 111 (1991)]. One photon of an entangled pair is incident on a Young double slit of appropriate dimensions to create an interference pattern in a distant detection region. Quarter-wave plates, oriented so that their fast axes are orthogonal, are placed in front of each slit to serve as which-path markers. The quarter-wave plates mark the polarization of the interfering photon and thus destroy the interference pattern. To recover interference, we measure the polarization of the other entangled photon. In addition, we perform the experiment under ``delayed erasure'' circumstances.
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.
Abstract The phenomenon of quantum erasure has shed light on the nature of wave-particle duality and quantum complementarity. A number of quantum erasers have been realized using the far-field diffraction of photons from a Young double-slit apparatus. By marking the path of a photon using an additional degree of freedom, the usual Young interference pattern is destroyed. An appropriate measurement of the system marking the photon’s path allows one to recover the interference pattern. Here quantum erasure is considered in the context of near-field diffraction. To observe interference in the near-field requires the use of two periodic wave functions, so that the usual ‘which way’ marker then becomes a ‘which-wave function’ marker. We determine the propagation distances for which quantum erasure, or more generally the observation of interference between the two periodic wave functions, can be observed. The meaning of wave and particle-like properties in this scenario is discussed. These results could lead to quantum eraser experiments with material particles, for which interference effects are more readily observed in the near-field rather than the far-field.
In this dissertation, an optical quantum eraser experiment, which can be considered an optical analogy of an experiment proposed by Scully, Englert and Walther(SEW) [1] is performed. Using photons in entangled Bell-states, we can choose whether to observe which-path information or an interference pattern. An appealing feature of this quantum eraser is that the experiement actually uses a Young double-slit to create interference. One photon of an entangled pair is incident on a Youngdouble slit of appropriate dimensions to create an interference pattern on a distant \screen". Quarter-wave plates, orientated so that their fast axes are orthogonal, are placed in front of each slit, serve as which-path markers. The presence of the quarter-wave plates destroys the interference pattern. To recover interference, an appropriate polarization measurement on the other entangled photon is performed. In addition, a \delayed quantum erasure" experiment is performed. The dangers of an erroneous interpretation of quantum theory in the delayed erasure situation are briey discussed. The generation of polarization-entangled photons using spontaneous parametric down-conversion is briey studied. It is shown that, through type-II non-colinear phase matching, the non-linear BBO (_-BaB2O4) cristal creates highly-entangled photons. Curves of polarization interference are obtained, proportional to sin(_A _ _B), with visibilities greater than 0:95.
3.1 Interference of a Single Photon The kinds of study originally conducted by Thomas Young - in particular, the celebrated "double slit" experiment that we briefly examined in Chapter 1 (see Fig. 1) - provide a capacity to reveal far more than the wave nature of light, important as that is. True enough, the observed characteristic fringe pattern, when monochromatic light passes through two closely spaced slits onto a screen, appears to be simply explicable on the basis of waves from each slit undergoing constructive and destructive interference at different positions on the screen. Yet, astonishingly, these patterns of interference are still exhibited when individual photons of a low-intensity input beam reach the screen one at a time, showing that it cannot in fact be a matter of different photons having to interfere with each other. Indeed, Dirac enunciated the general principle that photons can never directly interact with each other. The double slit and other such experiments indicate that each photon interacts in a delocalized, wave-like manner with both slits at the same time. Successive experiments build interference patterns that conform to an exact mathematical distribution formula, but the position at which an individual photon is detected in any particular instance cannot be predicted; this is a quintessential illustration of quantum uncertainty. Using the path integral approach of quantum theory, the phenomenon is more accurately represented by introducing a summation over all possible routes between the source and the screen on which the pattern appears, signifying an entire "lifetime" for each photon involved in the experiment. This relates to the fact that the actual trajectory is unknown without an observation, and thus we only obtain the probabilities of the photon striking the screen at different positions and times; all trajectories (potentialities) must be considered in a superposition. Each route is considered equally probable, and the variation in phase produces quantum interference. The differences in phase of each trajectory, at varying positions on the screen, generates the fringe pattern. An intriguing variation on this experiment involves "marking" the photons so that the actual route of each photon to the screen is known. Remarkably, in such a case, the fringe patterns do not appear because quantum interference cannot occur. A consequence of the observation of the photon route is an effect that, in other quantum mechanical connections, is known as a collapse of the wavefunction. However, it is possible for the fringe patterns to reappear when information on the route of the photons is lost; this is known as a quantum eraser.