ASternGerlachQuantumEraser

FrankRioux
Thistutorialprovidesabriefalternativemathematicalanalysisofthequantumeraserexperimentshown
belowwhichispublishedatarXiv:quantph/0501010v2.Pleaseseethetwoimmediatelyprecedingtutorials
foranotherexampleofthequantumeraserandadditionalmathematicaldetail.
Thefirstmagnetattacheswhichwayinformationsuchthatthebeamleavingthedoubleslitscreenis
describedbythefollowingwavefunction,
1 2
1
2
z z
z z
(
+ = | + +

wherez
1
andz
2
representthepositionsofthehorizontalslitsonthezaxisandthespineigenstatesinthe
zdirectionaregivenbelow.
+
zup
1
0
|

\
|
|
.
:= +
zdown
0
1
|

\
|
|
.
:=
Recognizingthatadiffractionpatternisactuallyamomentumdistributionfunction,weproject+onto
momentumspaceasfollows(inatomicunits,h=2t).
1 2
1 2
1 1 exp( ) exp( )
2 2 2 2
z z z z
ipz ipz
p p z p z
t t
(
(
+ = | + + = | + +
(


Heretheexponentialtermsarethepositioneigenfunctionsinmomentumspaceforinfinetesimallythinslits
locatedatz
1
andz
2
.Forslitsoffinitewidth<p|+>iswrittenasshownbelow.Againseetheprevious
tutorialsinthisseriesforfurthermathematicaldetail.Theslitpositionsandslitwidthchosenarearbitrary.
Slitpositions: z
1
1 := z
2
2 := Slitwidth: o .2 :=
+ p ( )
1
2
+
zup
z
1
o
2

z
1
o
2
+
z
1
2 t
exp i p z ( )
1
o

(
(
(
(
]
d +
zdown
z
2
o
2

z
2
o
2
+
z
1
2 t
exp i p z ( )
1
o

(
(
(
(
]
d +
|

\
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
:=
Becauseoftheencodingofpathinformationtherearenointerferencefringesassociatedwiththistwoslit
wavefunction.Theencodedorthogonalzdirectioneigenstatesdestroytheinterferencecrosstermsasshown
graphicallybelow.
p 30 29.98 , 30 .. :=
p
+ p ( ) ( )
2
However,thesecondSternGerlachmagnetorientedinthexdirectionerasesthepathinformation.Thisis
shownbyprojectingthestateafterthefirstmagnetandtheslitscreen,+(p),ontothexdirectionspin
eigenstates.
+
xup
1
2
1 1 ( ) := +
xdown
1
2
1 1 ( ) :=
+
left
p ( ) +
xup
+ p ( ) := +
right
p ( ) +
xdown
+ p ( ) :=
+
left
p ( )
( )
2
+
right
p ( )
( )
2
ThetwohalvesofthisfigurecapturethebasicfeaturesofFigure2binthereferencecitedandshownabove.
Thehorizontalbluelinemarksp=0onthezaxis.Ontheleftistheinterferencepatternofthepartofthe
beamemergingfromthexupmagnetdirection,withspinstate+
xup
whichisaninphasesuperpositionof
+
zup
and+
zdown
erasingwhichwayinformation.Ontherightistheinterferencepatternofthepartofthe
beamemergingfromthexdownmagnetdirection,withspinstate+
xdown
whichisanoutofphase
superpositionof+
zup
and+
zdown
alsoerasingwhichwayinformation.Therelativeverticalshiftobserved
intheinterferencefringesiscausedbythephasedifferencebetweenthethetwosuperpositionstates, +
xup
and+
xdown
.
IntheabsenceofbothSternGerlachmagnetstheusualdoubleslitinterferencepatternisobserved.
+ p ( )
1
2
z
1
o
2

z
1
o
2
+
z
1
2 t
exp i p z ( )
1
o

(
(
(
(
]
d
z
2
o
2

z
2
o
2
+
z
1
2 t
exp i p z ( )
1
o

(
(
(
(
]
d +
|

\
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
:=
p
+ p ( ) ( )
2
AlternativeAnalysis
Itispossibletoexpressthemathematicsinanalternativebutequivalentform.Thefirstwavefunction,
1 2
1
2
z z
z z
(
| + +

A
canbeexpressedexplicitlyinvectorformatinthemomentumrepresentation.Thisanalysiswillbebasedon
infinitesimallythinslitsasintroducedearlier.
1 1
1 2
2 2
1 0
1 1 1
0 1
2 2 2
p
z p z
z z
z p z
| | | | (
| | | |
+ =
| | ( | |
\ . \ .
\ . \ .
B
Itiseasilyshownthatthiswavefunctiondoesnotleadtointerferencefringesatthedetectionscreenby
calculatingthesquareoftheabsolutemagnitude.
( )
2 2
1
1 2 1 2
2
1 1
2 2
p z
z p z p p z p z
p z
| |
(
= +
|

\ .
C
+ p ( )
1
2 t
exp i p z
1

( )
exp i p z
2

( )
|

\
|
|
|
.
:=
p
+ p ( ) ( )
2
However,inthepresenceofthesecondSternGerlachmagnetvectorBisprojectedontothetwooutput
channelsofthemagnet.
( )
1
1 2
2
1 1
1 1
2 2
p z
p z p z
p z
| |
= + (
|

\ .
( )
1
1 2
2
1 1
1 1
2 2
p z
p z p z
p z
| |
= (
|

\ .
Theprobabilitydistributionsofthesestatesshowinterferencefringes.
+
left
p ( )
1
2
1 1 ( )
1
2 t

exp i p z
1

( )
exp i p z
2

( )
|

\
|
|
|
.
:= +
right
p ( )
1
2
1 1 ( )
1
2 t

exp i p z
1

( )
exp i p z
2

( )
|

\
|
|
|
.
:=
+
left
p ( )
( )
2
+
right
p ( )
( )
2