Postponing the past: An operational analysis of delayed-choice experiments (Q2268396)

The paper reviews some of the most important delayed-choice experiments based on the ``Ge\-dan\-ken\-experiment'' of Wheeler. Such experiments are aiming to give an answer to the old puzzle of light particle-wave duality. The fundamental lesson of Wheeler's delayed choice experiment is that the result depends on whether the experiment is set up to detect waves or particles. The authors are approaching the problem from a more general point of view and stress that this type of experiment gives the possibility to choose between different complementary phenomena. after the relevant interactions between the measuring instrument and the quantum system fade-out. They also examine how the choice between complementary phenomena are represented within the Schroedinger picture of quantum theory. In section 2 of this paper some proposed, but never performed, delayed-choice experiments are described, such as the double-slit with swinging door, split-beam, double-slit with cavities and quantum marking and quantum eraser with neutral kaons experiments. Section 3 reviews instead some of the performed delayed-choice experiments among which one of the most popular in the scientific community is the experimental realization of Wheeler's proposal by \textit{Jacques} et al. [``Experimental realization\dots'', Science 315, 966 (2007)]. In discussing these experiments the authors make extensive use of the probabilistic description of the underlaying physical mechanism and for that purpose some of the complementary observables are defined in App.~A. The right (left) hand circularly polarizations, used to build the superposition state of two different photon modes are defined in App.~B.