Interference and multi-particle effects in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with single-particle sources

TL;DR

This paper studies how synchronized single-particle sources in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer affect interference patterns and particle interactions, revealing conditions for interference suppression and two-particle effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel setup with synchronized single-particle sources in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, analyzing interference suppression and two-particle effects in detail.

Findings

Synchronization leads to particle collisions and absorptions.

Interference can be fully suppressed under certain conditions.

Spectral and two-particle effects explain the observed phenomena.

Abstract

We investigate a Mach-Zehnder interferometer fed by two time-dependently driven single-particle sources, one of them placed in front of the interferometer, the other in the center of one of the arms. As long as the two sources are operated independently, the signal at the output of the interferometer shows an interference pattern, which we analyze in the spectral current, in the charge and energy currents, as well as in the charge current noise. The synchronization of the two sources in this specifically designed setup allows for collisions and absorptions of particles at different points of the interferometer, which have a strong impact on the detected signals. It introduces further relevant time-scales and can even lead to a full suppression of the interference in some of the discussed quantities. The complementary interpretations of this phenomenon in terms of spectral properties and tunable two-particle effects (absorptions and quantum exchange effects) are put forward in this article.