ARUN KUMAR PATI ^{1, 2} and MAREK ZUKOWSKI³

¹ Quantum Optics and Information Groups,  School of Informatics, Dean Street, University of Wales, Bangor LL 57 1UT, UK

² Theoretical Physics Division, 5th Floor, Central Complex, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India

³ Instytut Fizyki Teoretycznej i Astrofizyki, Uniwersytet Gdanski, PL-80-952 Gdansk, Poland

¹ Email: akpati@sees.bangor.ac.uk; apati@apsara.barc.ernet.in

Abstract.

We propose a method called `coherence swapping' which enables us to create superposition of a particle in two distinct paths, which is fed with initially incoherent, independent radiation. This phenomenon is also present for the charged particles, and can be used to swap the effect of flux line due to the Aharonov--Bohm effect. We propose an optical version of experimental set-up to test the coherence swapping. The phenomenon, which is simpler than entanglement swapping or teleportation, raises some fundamental questions about the true nature of wave-particle duality, and also opens up the possibility of studying the quantum erasure from a new angle.

Keywords: Quantum interference; qubit; measurement; Aharonov--Bohm effect.

Pacs Nos. 03.65.Bz; 03.67.Hk