Experimental Test of Bohr's Complementarity Principle with Single Neutral Atom

Zhihui Wang, Yali Tian, Chen Yang, Pengfei Zhang, Gang Li, Tiancai Zhang

Published 2016-08-04Version 1

Bohr's complementarity principle (BCP) is one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics, and the counterintuitive behavior of wave-particle duality lies at its heart.BCP says that the properties of waves and particles for a quantum system cannot be simultaneously observed. Various tests of BCP with single photons have been performed.However, the low detection efficiency associated with fast-moving, massless photons makes the results less persuasive and more untenable. Here we use a well-controlled, massive, single trapped Cesium atom in a Ramsey interferometer to test BCP of wave-particle duality. A single atom is detected with much greater efficiency. Our results confirm the complementarity relation $P^2+V^2 \leqslant 1$, where $P^2$ and $V^2$ are the particle and wave behavior, respectively. We also deliberately introduce unbalance losses into our system and find the complementarity relation is formally "violated." The whole experiment is closer to the classical notions, and the result is more ideal than ever, which makes BCP seem even more firm. Our observation provides an important complementation to understand the BCP of wave-particle duality. The system paves a way to observe selectively the wave-particle properties on a single quantum level for massive particles.