When photons are lying about where they have been

Lev Vaidman*, Izumi Tsutsui

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The history of photons in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an inserted Dove prism is analyzed. It is argued that the Dove prism does not change the past of the photon. Alonso and Jordan correctly point out that an experiment by Danan et al. demonstrating the past of the photon in a nested interferometer will show different results when the Dove prism is inserted. The reason, however, is not that the past is changed, but that the experimental demonstration becomes incorrect. The explanation of a signal from the place in which the photon was (almost) not present is given. Bohmian trajectory of the photon is specified.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEntropy
Volume20
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2018

Funding

FundersFunder number
John E. Fetzer Memorial Trust
German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development
Israel Science Foundation1311/14

    Keywords

    • Dove prism
    • Mach-Zehnder interferometer
    • Past of the photon
    • Photon trajectory

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