graduate

Asking photons where they have been

TYPETheor./Math. Physics Seminar
Speaker:Prof. Shimshon Barad
Affiliation:TAU
Date:12.01.2014
Time:14:30
Location:Lewiner Seminar Room (412)
Abstract:Experimental weak measurements of photons passing through an interferometer give surprising results regarding the past of the photons. The information about different positions through which the photons pass in the interferometer is retrieved from modulations of the detected signal at the vibration frequencies of mirrors that the photons bounce off. A detailed analysis allows us to conclude that the past of a photon is not represented by continuous trajectories, in contrast with a “common sense” analysis adopted in various other experiments. The experimental results have a simple interpretation in the framework of the two-state vector formalism of quantum theory.