- #1
Derek P
- 297
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I am (still) trying to understand the optics of the Kim et al DCQE set-up. It is the optics of the "erased" cases that I don't understand.
These are the entangled pairs where the "idler" photon is detected by D1 and D2. Each detector receives a contribution, from one slit, that has passed through the beam splitter and another, from the other slit, that has been reflected from it. The diagram looks pretty symmetrical. Yet there is actually a +/- 90 degree phase offset for the two contributions. This causes the two patterns (created by the correlator) to be offset by 180 degrees so their peaks and troughs cancel. Indeed they must cancel because the raw pattern at D0 itself is not an interference pattern.
Please note I'm not asking about the nature of the two-photon state. I just don't know where that wretched (but essential) 90 degrees comes from!
Thanks
These are the entangled pairs where the "idler" photon is detected by D1 and D2. Each detector receives a contribution, from one slit, that has passed through the beam splitter and another, from the other slit, that has been reflected from it. The diagram looks pretty symmetrical. Yet there is actually a +/- 90 degree phase offset for the two contributions. This causes the two patterns (created by the correlator) to be offset by 180 degrees so their peaks and troughs cancel. Indeed they must cancel because the raw pattern at D0 itself is not an interference pattern.
Please note I'm not asking about the nature of the two-photon state. I just don't know where that wretched (but essential) 90 degrees comes from!
Thanks
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