Measuring Incompatible Observables by Exploiting Sequential Weak Values

F. Piacentini, A. Avella, M. P. Levi, M. Gramegna, G. Brida, I. P. Degiovanni, E. Cohen, R. Lussana, F. Villa, A. Tosi, F. Zappa, M. Genovese

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

76 Scopus citations

Abstract

One of the most intriguing aspects of quantum mechanics is the impossibility of measuring at the same time observables corresponding to noncommuting operators, because of quantum uncertainty. This impossibility can be partially relaxed when considering joint or sequential weak value evaluation. Indeed, weak value measurements have been a real breakthrough in the quantum measurement framework that is of the utmost interest from both a fundamental and an applicative point of view. In this Letter, we show how we realized for the first time a sequential weak value evaluation of two incompatible observables using a genuine single-photon experiment. These (sometimes anomalous) sequential weak values revealed the single-operator weak values, as well as the local correlation between them.

Original languageEnglish
Article number170402
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume117
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Oct 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Physical Society.

Funding

This work has been supported by EMPIR-14IND05 MIQC2 (the EMPIR initiative is co-funded by the EU H2020 and the EMPIR Participating States) and the EU FP7 under Grant Agreement No. 308803 (project BRISQ2). E.C. was supported by ERC AdG NLST and by the Israel Science Foundation Grant No. 1311/14. We wish to thank Yakir Aharonov and Avshalom C. Elitzur for helpful discussions.

FundersFunder number
EU H2020
European Commission
Israel Science Foundation1311/14
Seventh Framework Programme308803

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Measuring Incompatible Observables by Exploiting Sequential Weak Values'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this