graduate

Quantum delayed choice experiments

TYPECondensed Matter & Materials Physics
Speaker:Daniel Terno
Affiliation:Macquarie University Sydney
Organizer:Netanel Lindner
Date:25.10.2015
Time:14:30
Location:Lewiner Seminar Room (412)
Abstract:Classical concepts, like waves and particles, capture only some of the properties of quantum systems. As a result, these two concepts were merged in the notion of wave-particle duality.  Duality was one of the subjects of Bohr-Einstein debates and prompted Bohr to formulate his famous complementarity principle. The latter, however, can be used both by supporters and opponents of classical intuition and hidden variables. Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment (its sharpest realization was performed by Aspect group in 2007) explicitly demonstrates the dual nature of quantum systems.
Using quantum logic and quantum devices as part of the experimental set-up itself allows significantly simplify experimental systems, use platforms that were previously unsuitable for experiments in quantum foundations, and uncover new properties of classical theories.
After brief review of the history, the underlying classical ideas are quantitatively described and made to yield concrete experimental predictions. These serve as a basis of some recently performed and proposed experiments. Finally, the same formalism allows to demonstrate how three intuitively clear classical ideas turn to be incompatible