Double-Fock Superposition Interferometry for Differential Diagnosis of Decoherence
arXiv:1410.1299 · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/17/2/023008
Abstract
Interferometric signals are degraded by decoherence, which encompasses dephasing, mixing and any distinguishing which-path information. These three paradigmatic processes are fundamentally different, but, for coherent, single-photon and -states, they degrade interferometric visibility in the very same way, which impedes the diagnosis of the cause for reduced visibility in a single experiment. We introduce a versatile formalism for many-boson interferometry based on double-sided Feynman diagrams, which we apply to a protocol for differential decoherence diagnosis: Twin-Fock states |N,N> with reveal to which extent decoherence is due to path distinguishability or to mixing, while double-Fock superpositions with additionally witness the degree of dephasing. Hence, double-Fock superposition interferometry permits the differential diagnosis of decoherence processes in a single experiment, indispensable for the assessment of interferometers.
10 pages, 7 figures, accepted version
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