"Experimental realization of Wheeler\´s delayed-choice Gedanken Experiment"

Author

Jacques, Vincent ; Wu, E ; Grosshans, Frédéric ; Treussart, François ; Aspect, Alain ; Grangier, Philippe ; Roch, Jean-François

Author_Institution

ENS Cachan, Cachan

fYear

2007

fDate

17-22 June 2007

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

We report an almost ideal realization of wheeler\´s "delayed-choice" experiment where the light pulses are true single photons, allowing unambiguous which-way measurements. The clock-triggered single-photon source at the heart of the experiment, previously developed for quantum key distribution, is based on the pulsed, optically excited photoluminescence of a single N-V colour centre in a diamond nanocrystal. This system, which consists in a substitutional nitrogen atom (N) associated to a vacancy (V) in an adjacent lattice site of the diamond crystalline matrix, has an unsurpassed efficiency and photostability at room temperature.

Keywords

colour centres; diamond; elemental semiconductors; photoluminescence; photons; quantum cryptography; adjacent lattice site; clock-triggered source; colour centre; diamond crystalline matrix; diamond nanocrystal; gedanken experiment; light pulses; optically excited photoluminescence; quantum key distribution; realization; single photons; wheeler delayed-choice; Atom optics; Atomic measurements; Clocks; Delay; Heart; Nanocrystals; Nitrogen; Optical pulses; Photoluminescence; Pulse measurements;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2007 and the International Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEOE-IQEC 2007. European Conference on

Conference_Location

Munich

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-0931-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-0931-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2007.4386903

Filename

4386903