FRANSON EXPERIMENT USING POLARIZED PHOTONS

A modified Franson's two-photon correlation experiment is discussed. It is shown that the interference in the coincidence detection rate is lost when it is possible to determine the path followed by one of the photons. The interference is recovered when this information is ''erased.'' The experiment is devised so that the polarization of one of the photons depends on the path followed in the interferometer. Although the path difference is greater than the coherence length, when the two paths are open the photon can be found in a polarization state represented by the superposition of the polarization states associated to the paths. This can be comprehended by considering the situation in which one of the photons is detected before the other can reach the interferometer. In this case, the second photon has to be described by two wave packets simultaneously.