Non-local composite measurement protocol as a tool to probe non-causal quantum evolution


  Iliya Esin [1]  ,  Alessandro Romito [2]  ,  Yuval Gefen [1]  
[1] Department of Condensed Matter Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
[2] Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universitat Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Detection protocols that involve several steps of measurement (“composite measurement protocols”) have been introduced by Aharonov, Albert and Vaidman [Y. Aharonov, D. Z. Albert, and L. Vaidman, Physical Review Letters 60, 1351 (1988).]. Their “Weak Value” protocol consisted of a weak measurement followed by a subsequent strong one, whose role is to post-select the former.  Here we extend this concept to a composite protocol, that consists of 3 measurement steps – weak , weak, and strong—which are non-local in space and in time. This protocol is applied to an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and is designed to manifest the non-local character of quantum mechanics on both the level of a single-particle and many-body phenomena. The weak-weak-strong sequence enables one to select non-causal Keldysh contributions to the current through the interferometer.  Selection of these Aharonov-Bohm flux sensitive contributions may greatly increase the measured visibility. We find conditions where, unlike common practice, many-body fluctuations do not suppress the visibility resulting from this protocol.