Post-Newtonian gravitational effects in optical interferometry

Abstract

We investigate general properties of optical interferometry in stationary spacetimes and apply the obtained results focussing on quantum-optical experiments in near-Earth environments. We provide a rigorous expression for the gravitationally induced phase difference and adapt the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism for calculations of polarization rotation. We investigate two optical versions of the Colella-Overhauser-Werner experiment and show that the phase difference is independent of the post-Newtonian parameter γ, making it a possible candidate for an optical test of the Einstein equivalence principle. Polarization rotation provides an example of the quantum clock variable, and while related to the optical Lense-Thirring effects, shows a qualitatively different behaviour.

Quantumness of correlations and Maxwell's demon in molecular excitations created by neutron scattering

“…Streltsov et al proved that, in this case, entanglement is usually created. Additionally, the close connection of this approach to the one-way information deficit [23,37,42] and the quantum discord was shown. They also proved that the one-way information deficit is equal to the socalled minimal distillable entanglement [27] between A 1 B and M. This entanglement, as mentioned above, is created in a von Neumann measurement on part A.…”

“…It is easily understood that MID is just the entropic cost of a measurement in its marginal basis. Furthermore, an asymmetric version of MID relates to the quantum work deficit within the Maxwells demon paradigm, [37] which plays a central role by the interpretation of the neutron scattering results presented below.…”

Free-fall of photons in a planar optical cavity

“…To carry out this measurement, we can exploit the fact that, unlike classical solid bodies, we have access to the phase f(z, t) of the wavepacket, of which k z is the gradient along z. The principle of using interferometry to detect gravity induced dynamics on light is not new, it has been discussed and applied extensively already in different contexts [21][22][23][24]. Here we apply this principle as an experimental method to detect our cavity-induced non-relativistic dynamics.…”

Time dilation in quantum systems and decoherence

“…Both works also addressed the discussion about the interpretation of an experiment with atomic fountains [12], namely whether the Compton frequency can be associated with a physical clock in quantum interferometry [13][14][15][16][17], and showed that this cannot be the case as it would lead to an additional observable effect on the interferometric visibility. While the time dilation analysis used for massive particles does not directly apply to the propagation of light, the generalization of [1] to optical interferometry was studied in [2,18], where the Shapiro delay of a single photon can lead to a phase shift or loss of visibility in a quantum optical interferometer. This effect is considered for potential exploration in future space missions [19,20], as well as in fiber optics based interferometry [21].…”