We have implemented a novel double-slit "which-way" experiment which raises interesting questions of interpretation. Coherent laser light is passed through a converging lens and then through a dual pinhole producing two beams crossing over at the focal point of the lens, and fully separating further downstream providing which-way information. A thin wire is then placed at a minimum of the interference pattern formed at the cross-over region. No significant reduction in the total flux or resolution of the separated beams is found, providing evidence for coexistence of perfect interference and which-way information in the same experiment, contrary to the common readings of Bohr's principle of complementarity. This result further supports the conclusions of the original experiment by the author in which an imaging lens was employed to obtain which-way information. Finally, a short discussion of the novel non-perturbative measurement technique for ensemble properties is offered.
Generalized uncertainty relations may depend not only on the commutator relation of two observables considered, but also on mutual correlations, in particular, on entanglement. The equivalence between the uncertainty relation and Bohr's complementarity thus holds in a much broader sense than anticipated.
I argue that quantum optical experiments that purport to refute Bohr's principle of complementarity (BPC) fail in their aim. Some of these experiments try to refute complementarity by refuting the so called particle-wave duality relations, which evolved from the Wootters-Zureck reformulation of BPC (WZPC). I therefore consider it important for my forgoing arguments to first recall the essential tenets of BPC, and to clearly separate BPC from WZPC, which I will argue is a direct contradiction of BPC. This leads to a need to consider the meaning of particle-wave duality relations and to question…
A model of the Einstein-Bohr double-slit experiment is formulated in a fully quantum theoretical setting. In this model, the state and dynamics of a movable wall that has the double slits in it, as well as the state of a particle incoming to the double slits, are described by quantum mechanics. Using this model, we analyzed complementarity between exhibiting the interference pattern and distinguishing the particle path. Comparing the Kennard-Robertson type and the Ozawa-type uncertainty relations, we conclude that the uncertainty relation involved in the double-slit experiment is not the Ozawa…
Bohr's principle of complementarity lies at the central place of quantum mechanics, according to which the light is chosen to behave as a wave or particles, depending on some exclusive detecting devices. Later, intermediate cases are found, but the total information of the wave-like and particle-like behaviors are limited by some inequalities. One of them is Englert-Greenberger (EG) duality relation. This relation has been demonstrated by many experiments with the classical detecting devices. Here by introducing a quantum detecting device into the experiment, we find the limit of the duality r…
In its most orthodox form, Bohr's Complementarity Principle states that a quanton (a quantum system consisting of a Boson or Fermion) can either behave as a particle or as wave, but never simultaneosuly as both. A less orthodox interpretation of this Principle is the ``duality condition'' embodied in a mathematical inequality due to Englert [B-G Englert, Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 77, 2154 (1996)] which allows wave and particle attributes to co-exist, but postulates that a stronger manifestation of the particle nature leads to a weaker manifestation of the wave nature and vice versa. In this Lette…
An experimental test of quantum complementarity principle based on single neutral atom trapped in a blue detuned bottle trap was here performed. A Ramsey interferometer was used to assess the wavelike behavior or particle-like behavior with second $π/2$-rotation on or off. The wavelike behavior or particle-like behavior is characterized by the visibility $V$ of the interference or the predictability $P$ of which-path information, respectively. The measured results fulfill the complementarity relation $P^2+V^2\leq1$. Imbalance losses were deliberately introduced to the stem and find the complem…
Some modified two-slit interference experiments claim to demonstrate a violation of Bohr's complementarity principle. A typical such experiment is theoretically analyzed using wave-packet dynamics. The flaw in the analysis of such experiments is pointed out and it is demonstrated that they do not violate complementarity. In addition, it is quite generally proved that if the state of a particle is such that the modulus square of the wave-function yields an interference pattern, then it necessarily loses which-path information.
After introducing sketchily Bohr's wave-particle complementarity principle in his own words, a derivation of an extended form of the principle from standard quantum mechanics is performed. Reality-evaluation of each step is given. The derived theory is applied to simple examples and the extended entities are illustrated in a thought experiment. Assessment of the approach of Bohr and of this article is taken up again with a rather negative conclusion as far as reflecting reality is concerned. The paper ends with selected incisive opinions on Bohr's dogmatic attitude and with some comments by th…
What Niels Bohr called the `epistemological lesson' of `complementarity' was the result of reasoning analogically from the classical conception of a mechanical state to a new quantum mechanical conception of an `object' in a mechanical state. Bohr proposed to redefine the `objectivity' essential for scientific description in terms of the epistemological demand for unambiguously communicable descriptions of observational results, a move which has profound consequences for how we can understand the concept of the quantum mechanical state and the nature of the `system' which is `in' this state. H…
Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics has been criticized as incoherent and opportunistic, and based on doubtful philosophical premises. If so Bohr's influence, in the pre-war period of 1927-1939, is the harder to explain, and the acceptance of his approach to quantum mechanics over de Broglie's had no reasonable foundation. But Bohr's interpretation changed little from the time of its first appearance, and stood independent of any philosophical presuppositions. The principle of complementarity is itself best read as a conjecture of unusually wide scope, on the nature and future course of…
We analyze Einstein's recoiling slit experiment and point out that the inevitable entanglement between the particle and the recoiling-slit was not part of Bohr's reply. We show that if this entanglement is taken into account, one can provided a simpler answer to Einstein. We also derive the Englert-Greenberger-Yasin duality relation from this entanglement. In addition, we show that the Englert-Greenberger-Yasin duality relation can also be thought of as a consequence of the sum uncertainty relation for certain observables of the recoiling slit. Thus, the uncertainty relations and entanglement …
The photon box thought experiment can be considered a forerunner of the EPR-experiment: by performing suitable measurements on the box it is possible to ``prepare'' the photon, long after it has escaped, in either of two complementary states. Consistency requires that the corresponding box measurements be complementary as well. At first sight it seems, however, that these measurements can be jointly performed with arbitrary precision: they pertain to different systems (the center of mass of the box and an internal clock, respectively). But this is deceptive. As we show by explicit calculation,…
The two-slit experiment with quantum particles provides many insights into the behaviour of quantum mechanics, including Bohr's complementarity principle. Here we analyze Einstein's recoiling slit version of the experiment and show how the inevitable entanglement between the particle and the recoiling slit as a which-way detector is responsible for complementarity. We derive the Englert-Greenberger-Yasin duality from this entanglement, which can also be thought of as a consequence of sum-uncertainty relations between certain complementary observables of the recoiling slit. Thus, entanglement i…
There is presented a contextual statistical model of the probabilistic description of physical reality. Here contexts (complexes of physical conditions) are considered as basic elements of reality. There is discussed the relation with QM. We propose a realistic analogue of Bohr's principle of complementarity. In the opposite to the Bohr's principle, our principle has no direct relation with mutual exclusivity for observables. To distinguish our principle from the Bohr's principle and to give better characterization, we change the terminology and speak about supplementarity, instead of compleme…
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 visi…
We probe the principle of complementarity by performing a double-slit experiment based on entangled photons created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a pump mode in a TEM01-mode. Our setup brings out the need for a careful selection of the signal-idler photon pairs for our study of visibility and distinguishability. Indeed, when the signal photons interfering at the double-slit belong to this double-hump mode we obtain almost perfect visibility of the interference fringes and no "which-slit" information is available. However, when we break the symmetry between the two maxima of th…
In this article we criticize the experiment realized by S. Afshar [Proc. SPIE 5866, 229-244 (July 2005)]. We analyze Bohr's complementarity and show that the interpretation proposed by Afshar is misleading.
We establish correspondence between macroscopic thermodynamical quantities and complementarity in wave interference. The well known visibility and predictability in a double slit--like experiment are shown to be connected to magnetic susceptibility and magnetization of a general interacting spin chain. This gives us the ability to analyze the tradeoff between thermodynamical quantities in the same information--theoretic way that is used in analyzing the wave--particle duality. We thus obtain new physical insights into usually complicated thermodynamical models, such as viewing a phase transiti…
A which-way measurement in Young's double-slit will destroy the interference pattern. Bohr claimed this complementarity between wave- and particle behaviour is enforced by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: distinguishing two positions a distance s apart transfers a random momentum q \sim \hbar/s to the particle. This claim has been subject to debate: Scully et al. asserted that in some situations interference can be destroyed with no momentum transfer, while Storey et al. asserted that Bohr's stance is always valid. We address this issue using the experimental technique of weak measurement. …
Ninety years ago in 1927, at an international congress in Como, Italy, Niels Bohr gave an address which is recognized as the first instance in which the term "complementarity", as a physical concept, was spoken publicly [1], revealing Bohr's own thinking about Louis de Broglie's "duality". Bohr had very slowly accepted duality as a principle of physics: close observation of any quantum object will reveal either wave-like or particle-like behavior, one or the other of two fundamental and complementary features. Little disagreement exists today about complementarity's importance and broad applic…
The Einstein-Rupp experiments have been unduly neglected in the history of quantum mechanics. While this is to be explained by the fact that Emil Rupp was later exposed as a fraud and had fabricated the results, it is not justified, due to the importance attached to the experiments at the time. This paper discusses Rupp's fraud, the relation between Albert Einstein and Rupp, and the Einstein-Rupp experiments, and argues that these experiments were an influence on Niels Bohr's development of complementarity and Werner Heisenberg's formulation of the uncertainty relations.
We test Bohr's complementary relation, which captures the most counterintuitive difference of a classical and a quantum world, for single and bipartite neutral kaons. They present a system that is naturally interfering, oscillating and decaying. Moreover, kaons break the CP symmetry (C...charge conjugation, P...parity). In detail we discuss the effect of the CP violation on Bohr's relation, i.e. the effect on the "particle-like" information and the "wave-like" information. Further we show that the quantity that complements the single partite information for bipartite kaons is indeed concurrenc…
Complementarity is usually considered as a phenomenon of microscopic systems. In this paper we report an experimental observation of complementarity in the correlated double-slit interference with a pseudothermal light source. The thermal light beam is divided into test and reference beams which are correlated with each other. The double-slit is set in the test arm, and the interference pattern can be observed in the intensity correlation between the two arms. The experimental results show that the disappearance of interference fringe depends on whether which-path information is gained through…
We analyze Niels Bohr's proposed two-slit interference experiment with highly charged particles that argues that the consistency of elementary quantum mechanics requires that the electromagnetic field must be quantized. In the experiment a particle's path through the slits is determined by measuring the Coulomb field that it produces at large distances; under these conditions the interference pattern must be suppressed. The key is that as the particle's trajectory is bent in diffraction by the slits it must radiate and the radiation must carry away phase information. Thus the radiation field m…
Complementarity lies at the heart of conceptual foundation of orthodox quantum mechanics. The wave-particle duality makes it impossible to tell which slit each particle passes through and still observe an interference pattern in a Young's double-slit experiment. In this paper, this duality is appraised under the standard formulation of quantum mechanics for atom interferometers. It is found that the internal freedoms like electronic states of an atom can be used to detect the which-path information of each atom while uphold the interference pattern of atoms when the center-of-mass motion of at…
We present a scheme in which we investigate the two-slit experiment and we show that the principle of complementarity is more fundamental then the uncertainty principle.
Interference results when a quantum particle is free to choose among a few indistinguishable paths. A canonical example of Bohr's complementarity principle [1] is a two-path interferometer with an external detector coupled to one of the paths. Then, interference between the two paths vanishes (i.e. dephasing) if one is able to detect, even in principle, the path taken by the particle. This type of which path (WP) experiment was already executed with photons, cooled atoms, neutrons, solitons, and more recently with electrons in a mesoscopic system [2]. In the latter experiment path determinatio…
It is argued that Niels Bohr ultimately arrived at positivistic and antirealist-flavored statements because of weaknesses in his initial objective of accounting for measurement in physical terms. Bohr's investigative approach faced a dilemma, the choices being (i) conceptual inconsistency or (ii) taking the classical realm as primitive. In either case, Bohr's `Complementarity' does not adequately explain or account for the emergence of a macroscopic, classical domain from a microscopic domain described by quantum mechanics. A diagnosis of the basic problem is offered, and an alternative way fo…
Bohr placed complementary bases at the mathematical centre point of his view of quantum mechanics. On the technical side then my question translates into that of classifying complex Hadamard matrices. Recent work (with Barros e Sa) shows that the answer depends heavily on the prime number decomposition of the Hilbert space. By implication so does the geometry of quantum state space.
A modified version of Young's experiment by Shahriar Afshar indirectly reveals the presence of a fully articulated interference pattern prior to the post-selection of a particle in a "which-slit" basis. While this experiment does not constitute a violation of Bohr's Complementarity Principle as claimed by Afshar, both he and many of his critics incorrectly assume that a commonly used relationship between visibility parameter V and "which-way" parameter K has crucial relevance to his experiment. It is argued here that this relationship does not apply to this experimental situation and that it i…
The NAFL (non-Aristotelian finitary logic) interpretation of quantum mechanics requires that no `physical' reality can be ascribed to the wave nature of the photon. The NAFL theory QM, formalizing quantum mechanics, treats the superposed state ($S$) of a single photon taking two or more different paths at the same time as a logical contradiction that is formally unprovable in QM. Nevertheless, in a nonclassical NAFL model for QM in which the law of noncontradiction fails, $S$ has a meaningful metamathematical interpretation that the classical path information for the photon is not available. I…
A growing number of commentators have, in recent years, noted the important affinities in the views of Immanuel Kant and Niels Bohr. While these commentators are correct, the picture they present of the connections between Bohr and Kant is painted in broad strokes; it is open to the criticism that these affinities are merely superficial. In this essay, I provide a closer, structural, analysis of both Bohr's and Kant's views that makes these connections more explicit. In particular, I demonstrate the similarities between Bohr's argument, on the one hand, that neither the wave nor the particle d…
We establish a rigorous quantitative connection between (i) the interferometric duality relation for which-way information and fringe visibility and (ii) Heisenberg's uncertainty relation for position and modular momentum. We apply our theory to atom interferometry, wherein spontaneously emitted photons provide which way information, and unambiguously resolve the challenge posed by the metamaterial `perfect lens' to complementarity and to the Heisenberg-Bohr interpretation of the Heisenberg microscope thought experiment.
Niels Bohr introduced the concept of complementarity in order to give a general account of quantum mechanics, however he stressed that the idea of complementarity is related to the general difficulty in the formation of human ideas, inherent in the distinction between subject and object. The complementary descriptions approach is a framework for the interpretation of quantum mechanics, more specifically, it focuses in the development of the idea of complementarity and the concept of potentiality in the orthodox quantum formulation. In PART I of this article, we analyze the ideas of Bohr and pr…
Niels Bohr introduced the concept of complementarity in order to give a general account of quantum mechanics, however he stressed that the idea of complementarity is related to the general difficulty in the formation of human ideas, inherent in the distinction between subject and object. The complementary descriptions approach is a framework for the interpretation of quantum mechanics, more specifically, it focuses in the development of the idea of complementarity and the concept of potentiality in the orthodox quantum formulation. In PART I of this article, we analyze the ideas of Bohr and pr…
Shahriar S. Afshar claimed that his 2007 modified version of the double-slit experiment violates complementarity [1]. He makes two modifications to the standard double-slit experiment. First, he adds a wire grid that is placed in between the slits and the screen at locations of interference minima. The second modification is to place a converging lens just after the wire grid. The idea is that the wire grid implies the existence of interference minima(wave-like behavior), while the lens can simultaneously obtain which-way information (particle-like behavior). More recently, John G. Cramer [2] …
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, which first took shape in Bohr's landmark 1928 paper on complementarity, remains an enigma. Although many physicists are skeptical about the necessity of Bohr's philosophical conclusions, his pragmatic message about the importance of the whole experimental arrangement is widely accepted. It is, however, generally also agreed that the Copenhagen interpretation has no direct consequences for the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. Here I show that the application of Bohr's main concepts of complementarity to the subsystems of a closed …
Popper conceived an experiment whose analysis led to a result that he deemed absurd. Popper wrote that his reasoning was based on the Copenhagen interpretation and therefore invalidated the latter. Actually, Popper's argument involves counterfactual reasoning and violates Bohr's complementarity principle. The absurdity of Popper's result only confirms Bohr's approach.
A recent experiment performed by S. S. Afshar et al. has been interpreted as a violation of Bohr's complementarity principle between interference visibility and which-path information in a two-path interferometer. We have reproduced this experiment, using true single-photon pulses propagating in a two-path wavefront- splitting interferometer realized with a Fresnel's biprism, and followed by a grating with adjustable transmitting slits. The measured values of interference visibility V and which-path information, characterized by the distinguishability parameter D, are found to obey the complem…
Some recent works have introduced a quantum twist to the concept of complementarity, exemplified by a setup in which the which-way detector is in a superposition of being present and absent. It has been argued that such experiments allow measurement of particle-like and wave-like behavior at the same time. Here we derive an inequality which puts a bound on the visibility of interference and the amount of which-way information that one can obtain, in the context of such modified experiments. As the wave-aspect can only be revealed by an ensemble of detections, we argue that in such experiments,…
The visibilities of second-order (single-photon) and fourth-order (two-photon) interference have been observed in a Young's double-slit experiment using light generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion and a photon-counting intensified CCD camera. Coherence and entanglement underlie one-and two-photon interference, respectively. As the effective source size is increased, coherence is diminished while entanglement is enhanced, so that the visibility of single-photon interference decreases while that of two-photon interference increases. This is the first experimental demonstration of t…
Bohr's complementarity principle is of fundamental historic and conceptual importance for Quantum Mechanics (QM), and states that, with a given experimental apparatus configuration, one can observe either the wave-like or the particle-like character of a quantum system, but not both. However, it was eventually realized that these dual behaviors can both manifest partially in the same experimental setup, and, using ad hoc proposed measures for the wave and particle aspects of the quanton, complementarity relations were proposed limiting how strong these manifestations can be. Recently, a formal…
Quantum information technology is one of the fastest growing sectors within information technology. By misleading interpretations of Bohr's definition of complementarity, the foundation of nonlocal correlations of entanglement is concealed and therefore, such nonlocal effects can apparently not be utilized directly in information technology. As the first step to identify the utilizable nonlocal property of entanglement, this paper adjusts the notion of complementarity of first-order and second-order interference. Especially, the nonlocal consequence of the "principle of least action" for entan…
As per Einstein's design, particles are introduced into the double-slit experiment through a small hole in a plate which can either move up and down (and its momentum can be measured) or be stopped (and its position can be measured). Suppose one measures the position of the plate and this act verifies the statement that the interference pattern is observed in the experiment. However, if it is possible to think about the outcome that one would have obtained if one had measured plate's momentum instead of its position, then it is possible to consider, together with the aforesaid statement, anoth…
We analyze the experiment recently realized by S. Afshar et al. [1] in order to refute the principle of complementarity. We discuss the general meaning of this principle and show that contrarily to the claim of the authors Bohr's complementarity is not in danger in this experiment.
We show that Bohr's principle of complementarity between position and momentum descriptions can be formulated rigorously as a claim about the existence of representations of the CCRs. In particular, in any representation where the position operator has eigenstates, there is no momentum operator, and vice versa. Equivalently, if there are nonzero projections corresponding to sharp position values, all spectral projections of the momentum operator map onto the zero element.
We report on the simultaneous determination of complementary wave and particle aspects of light in a double-slit type "welcher-weg" experiment beyond the limitations set by Bohr's Principle of Complementarity. Applying classical logic, we verify the presence of sharp interference in the single photon regime, while reliably maintaining the information about the particular pinhole through which each individual photon had passed. This experiment poses interesting questions on the validity of Complementarity in cases where measurements techniques that avoid Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and q…
Bohr's principle of complementarity predicts that in a welcher weg ("which-way") experiment, obtaining fully visible interference pattern should lead to the destruction of the path knowledge. Here I report a failure for this prediction in an optical interferometry experiment. Coherent laser light is passed through a dual pinhole and allowed to go through a converging lens, which forms well-resolved images of the respective pinholes, providing complete path knowledge. A series of thin wires are then placed at previously measured positions corresponding to the dark fringes of the interference pa…
Bohr's complementarity principle has been challenged by quantum delayed-choice experiments wherein quantum systems are claimed to behave neither as wave nor as a particle, but in an intermediary way. However, this conclusion has been supported by retro-inference and with no direct link with the system quantum state. Here, we consider a framework that employs an operational criterion of physical reality to diagnosis the system ontology directly from the quantum state at each instant of time. We show that, in disparity with previous proposals, our setup ensures a formal link between the output v…
