Spectra in nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiments

TL;DR

This paper provides a quantum mechanical analysis of power spectra in nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiments, revealing detailed spectral features that challenge interpretations based on light's anomalous trajectories.

Contribution

It offers an explicit derivation of the spectral structure in nested interferometer experiments, clarifying the origins of observed peaks and weaker effects within standard quantum mechanics.

Findings

Prominent peaks at certain element frequencies

Weaker spectral effects at all relevant frequencies

Presence of peaks at all element oscillation frequencies in some setups

Abstract

By the means of the standard quantum mechanics formalism I present an explicit derivation of the structure of power spectra in Danan {\em et al.} and Zhou {\em et al.} experiments with nested dynamically changing Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The analysis confirms that we observe prominent, first-order peaks on frequencies related to some of the elements of the interferometer, but not on others. However, as I shall demonstrate, there are also other, weaker effects related to all relevant elements of the setup. In case of the Danan {\em et al.} setup, there are even peaks at all frequencies of element oscillations. When confronted in an experiment, these observations shall challenge the interpretation of the experiments based on anomalous trajectories of light.