Quantum eraser experiment (nonfiction)

In quantum mechanics, the quantum eraser experiment is an interferometer experiment that demonstrates several fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics, including quantum entanglement and complementarity.

The double-slit quantum eraser experiment described in this article has three stages:

• First, the experimenter reproduces the interference pattern of Young's double-slit experiment by shining photons at the double-slit interferometer and checking for an interference pattern at the detection screen.
• Next, the experimenter marks through which slit each photon went and demonstrates that thereafter the interference pattern is destroyed. This stage indicates that it is the existence of the "which-path" information that causes the destruction of the interference pattern.
• Third, the "which-path" information is "erased," whereupon the interference pattern is recovered. (Rather than removing or reversing any changes introduced into the photon or its path, these experiments typically produce another change that obscures the markings earlier produced.)

A key result is that it does not matter whether the eraser procedure is done before or after the photons arrive at the detection screen.

Quantum erasure technology can be used to increase the resolution of advanced microscopes.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Mathematics

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Delayed choice quantum eraser (nonfiction)
• Quantum mechanics (nonfiction)
• Physics (nonfiction)

External links:

• Quantum eraser experiment @ Wikipedia