Wave-particle duality of single-photon states

Ghose, Partha; Home, Dipankar

doi:10.1007/bf01883733

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This is the essence of the paradox of wave-particle duality. This paradox has led to a number of interpretations ranging from particles or waves as expressed by Bohr in his complementarity principle [26] through which way experiments [27,28,29] and their interpretations in terms of partially particle-like and partially wave-like 'information' [30,31,32,33] to fully particle and wave interpretations [34,35,36] and their tests [37,38].…”

Section: Principal Quantum Paradoxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unfinished Search for Wave-Particle and Classical-Quantum Harmony

Ghose¹

2015

j adv phys

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The main purpose of this paper is to review the progress that has taken place so far in the search for a single unifying principle that harmonizes (i) the wave and particle natures of matter and radiation, both at the quantum and the classical levels, on the one hand and (ii) the classical and quantum theories of matter and radiation on the other hand. In the author's opinion, the Koopman-von Neumann-Sudarshan (KvNS) Hilbert space theory based on complex wave functions underlying particle trajectories in classical phase space, is an important step forward in that direction. To appreciate the similarities and differences between classical and quantum wave functions, it is important first to review the famous paradoxes of quantum theory arising mainly from the dual character of matter and radiation and the mysterious nature of measurements in quantum theory. They have given rise to the suspicion that quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory and to multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics as well as no-go theorems ruling out certain types of hidden variable theories introduced to 'complete' quantum mechanics in some way. It is also important to point out that experimental verifications of the predictions of the double-prism experiment and the observation of average single photon trajectories in weak measurements appear to favour the spacetime picture of particles favoured by Einstein, de Broglie and Bohm over the complementarity approach favoured by Bohr. The KvN theory of classical mechanics provides a clear and beautiful harmony of classical waves and particles. Sudarshan has given an alternative but equivalent formulation that shows that classical mechanics can be regarded as a quantum theory with essentially hidden noncommuting variables. An extension of KvNS theory to classical electrodynamics provides a sound Hilbert space foundation to it and satisfactorily accounts for entanglement and Bell-CHSH-like violations already observed in classical polarization optics. An important new insight that has been obtained through these developments is that entanglement and Bell-like inequality violations are neither unique signatures of quantumness nor of non-locality-they are rather signatures of non-separability. Another new insight is the interpretation of the Wigner function as a KvNS wave function, i.e. a probability amplitude which need not be positive everywhere. This has important implications for simulating certain types of quantum information processes using classical polarization optics. Finally, Sudarshan's proposed solution to the measurement problem using KvNS theory for the measuring apparatus is sketched to show to what extent wave and particles can be harmonized in quantum theory.

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Section: Principal Quantum Paradoxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unfinished Search for Wave-Particle and Classical-Quantum Harmony

Ghose¹

2015

j adv phys

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“…Wave-particle duality is well described in Bohr's complementarity principle, which is sometimes phrased as follows: waves and particles are two distinct types of complementarity in nature, and the experimental situation determines the particle or wave nature of a quantum system; however, the simultaneous observation of wave and particle behavior is impossible. Mutual exclusiveness is regarded by Bohr as a "necessary" element in the complementarity principle to ensure its inner consistency [3]. The usual discussion about wave-particle duality starts from a physical system with two alternatives, typically, a two-way interferometer such as Young's double-slit experiment or a Mach-Zehnder setup.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information gain versus interference in Bohr’s principle of complementarity

Liu¹,

Lu²,

Zhou³

et al. 2017

Opt. Express

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Based on modern quantum measurement theory, we use Zurek's "triple model" to study, from the viewpoint of quantum information theory, the wave and particle nature of a photon in a symmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In the process of quantum measurement, the state of both the system and the detector is not an entangled state but a correlated state. We find that the information gain about the photon is related to the correlations (including classical and quantum correlations) between the photon and the detector. We also derive the relationship between the information gain and the fringe visibility. We find that the classical correlations remain consistent with the path distinguishability and can be used to describe the particle-like property of the photon. Quantum correlations are not exactly the same as fringe visibility, but both can represent the quantum coherence of the photon. Finally, we provide an analytical expression for quantum correlations of one type of two-qubit separable states.

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Wave Particle Duality of Light and Complementarity

Home

1997

Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Physics

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Wave-particle duality of single-photon states

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

The Unfinished Search for Wave-Particle and Classical-Quantum Harmony

The Unfinished Search for Wave-Particle and Classical-Quantum Harmony

Information gain versus interference in Bohr’s principle of complementarity

Wave Particle Duality of Light and Complementarity

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