Phase-dependent which-way information

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new observable for which-way detection in interferometry, showing that the obtainable which-way knowledge depends on phase difference and can reach an upper bound of 1, challenging previous inequalities.

Contribution

It proposes a novel observable for which-way detection that reveals phase-dependent knowledge, contrasting with established bounds like K^2 + V^2 <= 1.

Findings

The new observable's which-way knowledge K depends on phase difference δ.

K can reach an upper bound of 1 regardless of interference visibility V.

The results challenge the traditional inequality relating K and V.

Abstract

We introduce a new observable for reading out a which-way detector in a Young-type interferometer whose eigenstates either contain full which-way information or none at all. We calculate the which-way knowledge K that can be retrieved from this observable and find that K depends on the phase difference \delta that the interfering object accumulates on its way from either slit to the detector. In particular, it turns out that K(\delta) has an upper bound of 1, almost independent of the visibility V of the interference pattern generated by the interfering object on a screen, which is in marked contrast to the well-known inequality K^2 + V^2 <= 1 (cf. B.-G. Englert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2154 (1996)).