The Net Advance of Physics: Which-Way Experiments

The Net Advance of Physics:
AFSHAR'S EXPERIMENT and other "Which Way" Experiments

Afshar's Experiment to elucidate the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and other welcher Weg experiments:

PLEASE NOTE: The list below is meant to be inclusive. If a serious paper has been omitted, the editor is probably unaware that it exists. Conversely, inclusion of a paper does not mean that the editor agrees with its conclusions or otherwise endorses its content in any way. Also, the titles and authors of papers known by the editor to have been accepted for publication by peer-reviewed scholarly journals have been set in bold.

Last update: 2015 July 30

General: Introductory:
- Quantum rebel by M. Chown [New Scientist 183, 2457 (2004)]
- Bohr is Still Wrong by John G. Cramer [New Scientist 183, 2461 (2004)]
- A Farewell to Copenhagen? by John G. Cramer [Analog, (October 2004)]
General:
- Afshar experiment [Wikipedia]
- Official Afshar Experiment Blog by Shahriar S. Afshar
- Sharp complementary wave and particle behaviours in the same welcher Weg experiment, by Shahriar S. Afshar [Proc. SPIE 5866, 229 (July 2005)] The original paper describing the experiment.
Research papers:
- Simultaneous wave and particle knowledge in a neutron interferometer by D. Greenberger and S. Yasin [Phys. Lett. A 128, 391 (1988)]
- Quantum optical tests of complementarity by M. O. Scully et al. [Nature 351, 111 (1991)]
- Uncertainty over complementarity? by H. Wiseman and F. Harrison [Nature 357, 584 (1995)]
- Fringe visibility and which-way information: An inequality by B. G. Englert [Physical Review Letters 77, 2154 (1996)]
- Origin of quantum-mechanical complementarity probed by a "which-way" experiment in an atom interferometer by S. Dürr et al. [Nature 395, 33 (1998)]
- Physical reality and the Complementarity Principle by R. Srikanth [2001/02] Including an "enhanced detection screen" thought-experiment.
  - On Visibility in the Afshar Two-Slit Experiment by R. E. Kastner [Found. Phys. 37, 1139 (2009)] Denies that Srikanth's experiment provides which-way information.
  - Comment by Tabish Qureshi [2010/02]
  - Reply by R. E. Kastner [2010/02]
- Shahriar Afshar--Quantum Rebel? by W. Unruh [2004] Actually, a description of an alternative experiment using a double Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
- Why the Afshar Experiment Does Not Refute Complementarity by R. E. Kastner [Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci. B36, 649 (2005)]
  - Why Kastner analysis does not apply to a modified Afshar experiment by Eduardo Flores and Ernst Knoesel [2007/02]
- Afshar Explained by Neil Gunther [2005/03] A collection of slides for a talk apparently arguing against Afshar.
  - Towards practical design rules for quantum communications and quantum imaging devices by Neil Gunther and G. B. Beretta [Proc. SPIE 5893, 1 (2005)]
- Complementarity and Afshar's experiment by Aurélian Drezet (2005/08) Denies that Afshar experiment undermines complementarity.
  - Wave particle duality and the Afshar experiment by Aurélian Drezet [Progress in Physics 2011.1, 57 (2011)]
- Entanglement and quantum interference by Paul O'Hara (2006/09) Proposes a realist interpretation of the Afshar experiment.
- Complementarity and the Afshar Experiment by Tabish Qureshi (2007/01) Defends complementarity against Afshar's arguments.
- Comment on Afshar's expriments by Daniel Reitzner (2007/01) A numerical simulation apparently contradicting Afshar.
- Paradox in Wave-Particle Duality by Shahriar S. Afshar et al. [Found. Phys. 37, 295 (2007)]
  - Afshar's Experiment does not show a Violation of Complementarity by Ole Steuernagel [Found. Phys. 37, 1370 (2007)]
  - Reply to Comments of Steuernagel on the Afshar's Experiment by Eduardo Flores [Found. Phys. 38, 778 (2008)]
- Single Photon Experiments and Quantum Complementarity by Danko Dimchev Georgiev [Progress in Physics 2007.2, 97 (2007)]
  - Comment by W. Unruh [Progress in Physics 2007.3, 27 (2007)]
  - Exact mapping of quantum waves between Unruh's and Afshar's setup by Danko Dimchev Georgiev [Progress in Physics 2007.3, 28 (2007)]
  - Quantum operator approach to Unruh's and Afshar's setups by Danko Dimchev Georgiev [ICFAI University Journal of Physics 1, 7 (2008)]
  - Quantum Histories and Quantum Complementarity by Danko Dimchev Georgiev [ISRN Mathematical Physics 2012, 327278 (2012)] Excellent bibliography.
- A double-slit `which-way' experiment on the complementarity--uncertainty debate by R. Mir et al. [New J. Phys. 9, 287 (2007)]
- On Visibility in the Afshar Two-Slit Experiment by R. E. Kastner [Found. Phys. 37, 1139 (2009)] Argues that visibility and which-way parameters not related in way both Afshar and his critics assume.
  - Comment by Tabish Qureshi [2010/02]
  - Reply by R. E. Kastner [2010/02]
- Illustration of quantum complementarity using single photons interfering on a grating by V. Jaques et al. [New J. Phys. 10, 123009 (2008)]
- Modified Afshar Experiment: Calculations by Eduardo V. Flores [2008/03] Finds the theoretical diffraction pattern of an Afshar-like set-up with wires instead of lenses using standard electromagnetic theory and conservation of photon momentum.
- How does "Which Way" Detector affect Fano Effect in Mesoscopic Transport --"Phonon-Fano" Or Not by Hai-Zhou Lu et al. [2008/06]
- Entanglement, which-way experiment, and a quantum erasure by Christian Ferrari and Bernd Braunecker [Am. J. Phys. 78, 792 (2010)] (see also free arXiv version)
- Logical analysis of the Bohr Complementarity Principle in Afshar's experiment under the NAFL interpretation by Radhakrishnan Srinivasan [Int'l J. Quantum Inf. 8, 465 (2010)] Uses an interpretation of quantum mechanics based on non-Aristotelian finitary logic to refute Afshar's claims that his experiment violates the complementarity principle and the Englert-Greenberger duality relation.
- Complementarity paradox solved: surprising consequences by Eduardo Flores and J. M. de Tata [Found. Phys. 40, 1731 (2010)]
- On new phenomena of photon from modified double slit experiment by Haisheng Liu [2010/07] Results of a laser experiment which the author believes disprove standard quantum mechanics.
- "Which-path information" and partial polarization in single-photon interference experiments by Mayukh Lahiri [2011/01]
- Inherent Mach-Zehnder interference with "which-way" detection for single particle scattering in one dimension by Lan Zhou et al. [2011/09]
- Delayed Choice Experiments and Causality in Quantum Mechanics by Dominik Šafránek [2013] "We also find a mathematical background to Which-path information and show why its obtainability prevents system from interfering."
- Asking photons where have they been by Ariel Danan et al. [Physical Review Letters 111, 240402 (2013)]
  - Comment by Hatim Salih [2014/01]
  - Reply by Ariel Danan et al. [2014/01]
  - Which-way information in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer by Václav Potoček and Gergely Ferenczi [Physical Review A 92, 023829 (2015)]
  - Comment on "Which-way information in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer" by Lev Vaidman [Physical Review A 92, 017801 (2016)]
  - Particle Path Through a Nested Mach-Zehnder Interferometer by Robert B. Griffiths [Physical Review A 94, 032115 (2016)]
    - Comment by Hatim Salih [2016/08]
    - Reply to Salih by Robert B. Griffiths [2017/12]
    - Reply to Vaidman by Robert B. Griffiths [2017/04]
  - Paradox of photons disconnected trajectories ... by G. N. Nikolaev [JETP Letters 105, 136 (2017)]
    - Comment by Lev Vaidman [2017/05]
  - Asking photons where they have been in plain language by Dmitri Sokolovski [2016/07]
    - Reply by Lev Vaidman [2017/03]
    - Reply to Vaidman by Dmitri Sokolovski [2017/04]
- Quantum Properties of a Which-Way Detector by J. S. Oliveira Filho et al. [2014/03]
- A Priori Which-Way Information in Quantum Interference with Unstable Particles by Dennis E. Krause et al. [Physics Letters A 378, 2490 (2014)]
- A self-interfering clock as a "which path" witness by Yair Margalit et al. [2015/05]
- Adiabatic Mach-Zehnder interferometer in dipolar spin-1 condensate by Yixiao Huang et al. [2015/11]
- Which Way? by Hu Zhan [2016/04]
- Which-way double slit experiments and Born rule violation by James Q. Quach [2016/10]
- Spectral Which-Way Information in a Hong-Ou-Mandel Interferometer by Gustavo C. Amaral et al. [2017/01]
- Paradox of Photons Disconnected Trajectories Being Located by Means of "Weak Measurements" in the Nested Mach-Zehnder Interferometer by Gennady N. Nikolaev [JETP Letters 105, 152 (2017)]
- Comment on the paper "Quantum mechanics needs no consciousness" by Yu and Nikolic (2011) by Catherine M. Reason [2017/07]
- Asymmetric Mach-Zehnder atom interferometers by Boris Dubetsky [2017/10]
- A Bohmian Analysis of Afshar's Experiment by David Navia [2017/10]
- Which-Way Measurements and Momentum Kicks by Tabish Qureshi [2018/05]
- Simulation of Afshar's double-slit experiment by B. Gergely and H. Batelaan [2021/11]
- A possible solution to the which-way problem of quantum interference by H. F. Hofmann et al. [2021/11]

The Net Advance of Physics: AFSHAR'S EXPERIMENT and other "Which Way" Experiments

THE NET ADVANCE OF PHYSICS

The Net Advance of Physics:
AFSHAR'S EXPERIMENT and other "Which Way" Experiments