Wave-particle duality with a single photon: from Young double-slit experiment to Wheeler's delayed-choice gedanken experiment

Young's double-slit experiment realized with particles sent one at a time through an interferometer is at the heart of quantum mechanics. The striking feature is that the phenomenon of interference, interpreted as a wave following simultaneously two paths, is incompatible with our common sense representation of a particle following one route or the other but not both. The work described in this book is dedicated to the study of wave-particle duality for a single photon emitted by the triggered photoluminescence of a single NV color center in a diamond nanocrystal. We first present the realization of a single-photon interference experiment using a Fresnel's biprism, in a scheme equivalent to the standard Young's double-slit textbook experiment. We then discuss the complementarity between interference and which-path information in this two-path interferometer. We finally describe the experimental realization of Wheeler's delayed-choice gedanken experiment, which is a fascinating and subtle illustration of wave-particle duality. In such experiment, the choice either to observe interference fringes, obviously associated to a wave-like behavior, or to know which path of the interferometer has been followed, according to a particle-like behavior, is made whereas the photon has already entered into the interferometer. Furthermore, the choice is made by a quantum random number generator and is relativistically separated from the entering of the photon into the interferometer. The results of that experiment show once again that no classical physical reality can be attributed to the photon independent of the measurement apparatus, as stated by the complementarity principle.