| Issue |
J. Eur. Opt. Soc.-Rapid Publ.
Volume 13, Number 1, 2017
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 8 | |
| Number of page(s) | 7 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41476-017-0036-x | |
| Published online | 08 March 2017 | |
Research
Complementarity in single photon interference – the role of the mode function and vacuum fields
University of Potsdam, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Karl-Liebknecht Straße 24-25, D-14476, Potsdam, Germany
Received:
14
October
2016
Accepted:
25
January
2017
Background: In earlier experiments the role of the vacuum fields could be demonstrated as the source of complementarity with respect to the temporal properties (Heuer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114:053601, 2015).
Methods: Single photon first order interferences of spatially separated regions from the cone structure of spontaneous parametric down conversion allow for analyzing the role of the mode function in quantum optics regarding the complementarity principle.
Results: Here the spatial coherence properties of these vacuum fields are demonstrated as the physical reason for complementarity in these single photon quantum optical experiments. These results are directly connected to the mode picture in classical optics.
Conclusion: The properties of the involved vacuum fields selected via the measurement process are the physical background of the complementarity principle in quantum optics.
Key words: Quantum optics / Complementarity / Mode function / Vacuum fields
© The Author(s) 2017
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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