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Quantum uncertainty and wave–particle duality are equivalent, experiment shows
- The relationship between measurement uncertainty and preparation uncertainty has never been experimentally demonstrated in quantum mechanics, however, physicists in Europe have shown it to be equivalent and confirmed a theoretical prediction that a minimum level of uncertainty must always result when a measurement is made on a quantum object.
- The famous double-slit thought experiment exists because of wave–particle duality in quantum mechanics. If the trajectories of a particle are observed such that it is known which slit each particle travelled through, no interference pattern is seen.
- In 2014, Patrick Coles and colleagues at the National University of Singapore showed theoretically that measurement uncertainty and preparation uncertainty were equivalent.
- Guilherme Xavier at colleagues at Linköping University in Sweden set out to test the theoretical prediction that a minimum level of uncertainty must always result when a measurement is made on a quantum object.
- The team sent highly attenuated, mostly single-photon laser pulses in two possible orthogonal orbital angular momentum states down an optical fibre to an input beamsplitter.
- By placing a second modulator before a tunable beamsplitter and adjusting the phase with which the two paths met, it was possible to control the extent to which the second beamsplitter actually behaved as a beamsplitter.
- The results were consistent with the 2014 theoretical prediction by Coles and colleagues.
- The Linköping team plans to develop practical applications of its technology and look at the implementation of some actual quantum communication protocols.
- The experiment confirms an important prediction that has been in the literature for over a decade.
- The research is described in Science Advances.
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