English

Comment on "Quantitative wave-particle duality in multibeam interferometers"

Quantum Physics 2009-11-10 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. {\bf A64}, 042113 (2001)] S. D\"urr proposed an interesting multibeam generalization of the quantitative formulation of interferometric wave-particle duality, discovered by Englert for two-beam interferometers. The proposed generalization is an inequality that relates a generalized measure of the fringe visibility, to certain measures of the maximum amount of which-way knowledge that can be stored in a which-way detector. We construct an explicit example where, with three beams in a pure state, the scheme proposed by D\"{u}rr leads to the possibility of an ideal which-way detector, that can achieve a better path-discrimination, at the same time as a better fringe visibility. In our opinion, this seems to be in contrast with the intuitive idea of complementarity, as it is implemented in the two-beams case, where an increase in path discrimination always implies a decrease of fringe visibility, if the beams and the detector are in pure states.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0304004,
  title  = {Comment on "Quantitative wave-particle duality in multibeam interferometers"},
  author = {G. Bimonte and R. Musto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0304004},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 pages, 1 encapsulated figure. In press on Phys. Rev. A