Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Complementarity and post-selection in an atomic double-slit interferometer

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Central European Journal of Physics

Abstract

This paper analyzes, theoretically, an atomic double-slit interferometer in order to probe the extent to which complementary properties affect quantum interference. It is shown that if the energy eigenstates of a two-level atom are one-to-one correlated with its particle and wave behaviors, complementary phenomena can be measured simultaneously, indicating a reinterpretation of the complementarity principle. We also demonstrate that these complementary properties can be further distinguished by using a post-selection process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. N. Bohr, Naturwissenschaften 16, 245 (1928)

    Article  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. N. Bohr, In: J. A. Wheeler, W. H. Zurek (Ed.), Quantum Theory and Measurement (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1984) 9

  3. G. Greenstein, A. G. Zajonc, The Quantum Challenge: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Chapter 2 (Jones and Bartlett, Boston, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

  4. R. P. Feynman, Lectures on Physics, 3 (Addison Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1965)

    Google Scholar 

  5. S. Kocsis et al., Science 332, 1170 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. U. Sinha et al., Science 329, 418 (2010)

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. T. Juffmann et al., Nat. Nanotechnology 7, 297 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. R. Ionicioiu, D. R. Terno, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 230406 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. A. Peruzzo et al., Science 338, 634 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. F. Kaiser et al., Science 338, 637 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. M. O. Scully, B.-G. Englert, A. Walther, Nat. 351, 111 (1991)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. M. Born, E. Wolf, Principles of Optics, 7th Ed. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  13. J. M. Raimond, M. Brune, S. Haroche, Rev. Mod. Phys. 73, 565 (2001)

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. O. Carnal, J. Mlynek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 2689 (1991)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. J. M. Gerard et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1110 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. K. J. Vahala, Nat. 424, 839 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. J. Tollaksen et al., New. J. Phys. 12, 013023 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Y. Aharonov, S. Popescu, J. Tollaksen, Phys. Today 63, 27 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. R. Bach et al., New. J. Phys. 15, 033018 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba Caixa Postal 5008, 58059-900, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil

    Bertúlio de Lima Bernardo

  2. Department of Physics, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Bertúlio de Lima Bernardo

Authors
  1. Bertúlio de Lima Bernardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bertúlio de Lima Bernardo.

About this article

Cite this article

de Lima Bernardo, B. Complementarity and post-selection in an atomic double-slit interferometer. centr.eur.j.phys. 11, 923–927 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11534-013-0269-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11534-013-0269-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation