Partial polarization by quantum distinguishability

Autor(en)

Mayukh Lahiri, Armin Hochrainer, Radek Lapkiewicz, Gabriela Barreto Lemos, Anton Zeilinger

Abstrakt

We establish that a connection exists between wave-particle duality of photons and partial polarization of a light beam. We perform a two-path lowest-order (single photon) interference experiment and demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that the degree of polarization of the light beam emerging from an output of the interferometer depends on path distinguishability. In our experiment, we are able to change the quantum state of the emerging photon from a pure state to a fully mixed state without any direct interaction with the photon. Although most lowest-order interference experiments can be explained by classical theory, our experiment has no genuine classical analog. Our results show that a case exists where the cause of partial polarization is beyond the scope of classical theory.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Externe Organisation(en)

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW)

Journal

Physical Review A

Band

95

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

1050-2947

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.033816

Publikationsdatum

03-2017

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103025 Quantenmechanik, 103021 Optik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/12f92a49-8f64-4938-80fd-68c86f4aee4a