Wheeler's delayed-choice thought experiment: Experimental realization and theoretical analysis

Realization of Hardy's thought experiment with photons.

We present an experimental realization of Hardy's thought experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2981 (1992)], using photons. The experiment consists of a pair of Mach-Zehnder interferometers that interact through photon bunching at a beam splitter. A striking contradiction is created between the predictions of quantum mechanics and local hidden variables. The contradiction relies on nonmaximally ent...

Entanglement-enabled delayed-choice experiment.

Wave-particle complementarity is one of the most intriguing features of quantum physics. To emphasize this measurement apparatus-dependent nature, experiments have been performed in which the output beam splitter of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is inserted or removed after a photon has already entered the device. A recent extension suggested using a quantum beam splitter at the interferometer'...

A quantum delayed-choice experiment.

Quantum systems exhibit particle- or wavelike behavior depending on the experimental apparatus they are confronted by. This wave-particle duality is at the heart of quantum mechanics. Its paradoxical nature is best captured in the delayed-choice thought experiment, in which a photon is forced to choose a behavior before the observer decides what to measure. Here, we report on a quantum delayed-...

An entanglement-enabled delayed-choice experiment

Extending Wheeler’s delayed-choice experiment to space

Gedankenexperiments have consistently played a major role in the development of quantum theory. A paradigmatic example is Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment, a wave-particle duality test that cannot be fully understood using only classical concepts. We implement Wheeler's idea along a satellite-ground interferometer that extends for thousands of kilometers in space. We exploit temporal and pol...