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arXiv:quant-ph/9903047 · Physical Review Letters

Delayed “Choice” Quantum Eraser

Yoon-Ho Kim, Rong Yu, S. P. Kulik, Yanhua H. Shih, Marlan O. Scully

Published Jan 3, 2000• 554 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report a delayed "choice" quantum eraser experiment of the type proposed by Scully and Druhl (where the "choice" is made randomly by a photon at a beam splitter). The experimental results demonstrate the possibility of delayed determination of particlelike or wavelike behavior via quantum entanglement. The which-path or both-path information of a quantum can be marked or erased by its entangled twin even after the registration of the quantum.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.84.1

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We report a delayed "choice" quantum eraser experiment of the type proposed by Scully and Druhl (where the "choice" is made randomly by a photon at a beam splitter). The experimental results demonstrate the possibility of delayed determination of particlelike or wavelike behavior via quantum entanglement. The which-path or both-path information of a quantum can be marked or erased by its entangled twin even after the registration of the quantum.
We report on a delayed-choice quantum eraser experiment based on a two-photon imaging scheme using entangled photon pairs. After the detection of a photon which passed through a double-slit, a random delayed choice is made to erase or not erase the which-path information by the measurement of its distant entangled twin; the particle-like and wave-like behavior of the photon are then recorded simultaneously and respectively by only one set of joint detection devices. The present eraser takes advantage of two-photon imaging. The complete which-path information of a photon is transferred to its distant entangled twin through a "ghost" image. The choice is made on the Fourier transform plane of the ghost image between reading "complete information" or "partial information" of the double-path.
Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment was conceived to illustrate the paradoxical nature of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. In the experiment, quantum light can exhibit either wavelike interference patterns or particlelike anticorrelations, depending upon the (possibly delayed) choice of the experimenter. A variant known as the quantum eraser uses entangled light to recover the lost interference in a seemingly nonlocal and retrocausal manner. Although it is believed that this behavior is incompatible with classical physics, here we show that, using postselection, the observed quantum phenomena can be reproduced by adopting a simple deterministic detector model and supposing the existence of a random zero-point electromagnetic field.
Abstract Wave–particle duality is a counterintuitive nature of quantum physics that challenges many common-sense assumptions, and Young’s double-slit interference is a prototypical example. While most quantum erasure experiments emphasized the choice of erasing or marking the which-path information of one quantum system, we use frequency entanglement to report a nonlocal temporal double-slit interferometer such that the which-time information determines the wave-like or particle-like behaviors. Since frequency-entangled photons are created simultaneously by using spontaneous parametric down conversion, the mark of temporal distinguishability is readily prepared by delaying one of the entangled photons, and its quantum eraser is implemented by using spectrally resolved detection with a tunable delayed choice. These results may provide an alternative aspect and insight into the role of the temporal degree in quantum-light complementarity and photon interference.
Abstract We present a novel quantum circuit that genuinely implements the Scully–Drühl-type delayed-choice quantum eraser, where the two recorders of the which-way information directly interact with the signal qubit and remain spatially separated. Experiments conducted on IBM Quantum and IonQ processors demonstrate that the recovery of interference patterns, to varying degrees, aligns closely with theoretical predictions, despite the presence of systematic errors. This quantum circuit-based approach, more manageable and versatile than traditional optical experiments, facilitates arbitrary adjustment of the erasure and enables a true random choice in a genuine delayed-choice manner. On the IBM Quantum platform, delay gates can be employed to further defer the random choice, thereby amplifying the retrocausal effect. Since gate operations are executed sequentially in time, the system does not have any involvement of random choice until after the signal qubit has been measured, therefore eliminating any potential philosophical loopholes regarding retrocausality that might exist in other experimental setups. Remarkably, quantum erasure is achieved with delay times up to ∼ 1 μ s without noticeable decoherence, a feat challenging to replicate in optical setups.
The delayed-choice thought experiment proposed by Wheeler has been demonstrated over the last several decades for the wave-particle duality of a single photon. The delayed-choice quantum eraser proposed by Scully and Druhl has also been intensively studied for the violation of the cause-effect relation of a single photon as well as a pair of entangled photons in an interferometric system. Here, a coherence interpretation is conducted for the nonlocal realism of the space-like separated photons observed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1 (2000). As a result, coherence solutions of the observed nonlocal fringes are deterministically derived from coincidence detection-caused selective measurements, where the resulting product-basis superposition becomes the origin of the otherwise quantum mystery of the nonlocal fringes. For this, a fixed sum-phase relation between entangled photons is a prerequisite, which cannot be explained by conventional particle nature-based quantum mechanics.