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arxiv: 1505.05765 · v1 · pith:JKQOBLZNnew · submitted 2015-05-21 · 🪐 quant-ph

A self-interfering clock as a "which path" witness

classification 🪐 quant-ph
keywords clockpathtimewaveinformationinterferometrypacketsself-interfering
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We experimentally demonstrate a new interferometry paradigm: a self-interfering clock. We split a clock into two spatially separated wave packets, and observe an interference pattern with a stable phase showing that the splitting was coherent, i.e., the clock was in two places simultaneously. We then make the clock wave packets "tick" at different rates to simulate a proper time lag. The entanglement between the clock's time and its path yields "which path" information, which affects the visibility of the clock's self-interference. By contrast, in standard interferometry, time cannot yield "which path" information. As a clock we use an atom prepared in a superposition of two spin states. This first proof-of-principle experiment may have far-reaching implications for the study of time and general relativity and their impact on fundamental quantum effects such as decoherence and wave packet collapse.

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