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Ole Steuernagel

Publications and source records attributed to Ole Steuernagel.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2005

Afshar's Experiment does not show a Violation of Complementarity

A recent experiment performed by S. Afshar [first reported by M. Chown, New Scientist {\bf 183}, 30 (2004)] is analyzed. It was claimed that this experiment could be interpreted as a demonstration of a violation of the principle of complementarity in quantum mechanics. Instead, it is shown here that it can be understood in terms of classical wave optics and the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics. Its performance is quantified and it is concluded that the experiment is suboptimal in the sense that it does not fully exhaust the limits imposed by quantum mechanics.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2005

Equivalence between focussed paraxial beams and the quantum harmonic oscillator

The paraxial approximation to the scalar Helmholtz equation is shown to be equivalent to the Schrödinger equation for a quantum harmonic oscillator. This equivalence maps the Gouy-phase of classical wave optics onto the time coordinate of the quantum harmonic oscillator and also helps us understand the qualitative behavior of the field and intensity distributions of focused optical beams in terms of the amplitude and probability distributions of quantum harmonic oscillators and vice versa.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2005

Coherent Transport and Concentration of Particles in Optical Traps using Varying Transverse Beam Profiles

Tailored time-dependent variations of the transverse profile together with longitudinal phase shifts of laser beams are studied. It is shown theoretically that a standing wave setup and real-time beam forming techniques (e.g. by computer-addressed holograms) should make it possible to implement smooth transport across and along the beams employed in optical trapping schemes. Novel modes for the efficient collection, transport, and concentration of trapped particles should thus become realizable in optical trapping setups.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2003

Detecting N-particle interference patterns with linear balanced N-port analyzers

A standard two-path interferometer fed into a linear N-port analyzer with coincidence detection of its output ports is analyzed. The N-port is assumed to be implemented as a discrete Fourier transformation $\cal F$, i.e., to be balanced. For unbound bosons it allows us to detect N-particle interference patterns with an N-fold reduction of the observed de Broglie wavelength, perfect visibility and minimal noise. Because the scheme involves heavy filtering a lot of the signal is lost, yet, it is surprisingly robust against common experimental imperfections, and can be implemented with current technology.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2002

Approaching the Heisenberg limit with two mode squeezed states

Two mode squeezed states can be used to achieve Heisenberg limit scaling in interferometry: a phase shift of $δϕ\approx 2.76 / < N >$ can be resolved. The proposed scheme relies on balanced homodyne detection and can be implemented with current technology. The most important experimental imperfections are studied and their impact quantified.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2001

Quantum Statistics Can Suppress Classical Interference

Classical optical interference experiments correspond to a measurement of the first-order correlation function of the electromagnetic field. The converse of this statement: experiments that measure the first order correlation functions do not distinguish between the quantum and classical theories of light, does not always hold. A counterexample is given.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2001

De Broglie Wavelength Reduction for a Multi-photon Wave Packet

An experiment is proposed that permits the observation of the reduced de Broglie wavelengths of two and four-photon wave packets using present technology. It is suggested to use a Mach-Zehnder setup and feed both input ports with light generated by a single non-degenerate down-conversion source. The strong quantum correlations of the light in conjunction with boson-enhancement at the input beam splitter allow to detect a two- and fourfold decrease in the observed de Broglie wavelength with perfect visibility. This allows a reduction of the observed de Broglie wavelength below the wavelength of the source.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2000

Excited stationary states of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the excited stationary states of Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in harmonic potentials. We derive simple analytical approximations of the first few eigenstates of the associated time-independent one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation and their energies. Our results are excited state generalizations of the Thomas-Fermi approximation of the ground state.

cond-mat↗
arXiv1999

Uncertainty is complementary to Complementarity

For any ideal two-path interferometer it is shown that the wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics implies Heisenberg's uncertainty relation and vice versa. It is conjectured that complementarity and uncertainty are two aspects of the same general principle.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1995

Reconstructing the density operator via simple projectors

We describe the representation of arbitrary density operators in terms of expectation values of simple projection operators. Two representations are presented which yield non--recursive schemes for experimentally determining the density operator of any quantum system. We suggest a possible experimental implementation in quantum optics.

quant-ph↗