Wave/particle nature of light - towards a double-doubleslit experiment

Tsewang Gyatso, E Baudin, Emmanuel Schenck, Markus Aspelmeyer, Anton Zeilinger

Published Jul 1, 2005• 0 citations

Abstract

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)

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