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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 83 » Issue 23
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4725–4728 (1999)

High-Efficiency Quantum Interrogation Measurements via the Quantum Zeno Effect

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P. G. Kwiat1,*, A. G. White1, J. R. Mitchell1, O. Nairz2,†, G. Weihs2,‡, H. Weinfurter2,§, and A. Zeilinger2,**
1Physics Division, P-23, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
2Institute for Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020, Austria

Received 16 June 1999; published in the issue dated 6 December 1999

The phenomenon of quantum interrogation allows one to optically detect the presence of an absorbing object, without the measuring light interacting with it. In an application of the quantum Zeno effect, the object inhibits the otherwise coherent evolution of the light, such that the probability that an interrogating photon is absorbed can in principle be arbitrarily small. We have implemented this technique, achieving efficiencies of up to 73%, and consequently exceeding the 50% theoretical maximum of the original “interaction-free” measurement proposal. We have also predicted and experimentally verified a previously unsuspected dependence on loss.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.4725
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.4725
PACS:
42.50.-p, 03.65.Bz, 03.67.-a, 42.25.Hz

*Electronic address: Kwiat@lanl.gov

†Current address: Inst. for Experimental Phys., Univ. of Vienna, Wien 1090, Austria.

‡Current address: Inst. for Experimental Phys., Univ. of Vienna, Wien 1090, Austria.

§Current address: Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, D-80799 München, Germany.

**Current address: Inst. for Experimental Phys., Univ. of Vienna, Wien 1090, Austria.

 
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