Weak value measurement with an incoherent measuring device

Abstract

In the Aharonov-Albert-Vaidman (AAV) weak measurement, it is assumed that the measuring device or the pointer is in a quantum mechanical pure state. In reality, however, it is often not the case. In this paper, we generalize the AAV weak measurement scheme to include more generalized situations in which the measuring device is in a mixed state. We also report an optical implementation of the weak value measurement in which the incoherent pointer is realized with the pseudo-thermal light. The theoretical and experimental results show that the measuring device under the influence of partial decoherence could still be used for amplified detection of minute physical changes and are applicable for implementing the weak value measurement for massive particles.

6 pages, 4 figures, corrected typo (email address)

References in corpus (3)

• Ultrasensitive Beam Deflection Measurement via Interferometric Weak Value Amplification
• Experimental joint weak measurement on a photon pair as a probe of Hardy's Paradox
• Decoherence of matter waves by thermal emission of radiation

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