Material Detail

The Phase Shifter in a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer simulation aims to help students make connections between physical and mathematical representations of single photon interference and the measurement process. The simulation allows students to send single photons through an interferometer and insert a phase shifter to vary the relative phase between the two arms. The simulation depicts single photons and the photon superposition state in order to help students build models of single photon interference. Students can insert filters that block half the energy of the source photon to test ideas about photon superposition.  Students can display the quantum state at various points in the interferometer and the mathematical representations of the optical components.  Detections are depicted as flashes in the detectors. An accompanying activity for this simulation is available at http://quantumphysics.iop.org and at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis. The simulation can be downloaded from the QuVis website www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis.

This simulation is part of the UK Institute of Physics New Quantum Curriculum, see http://quantumphysics.iop.org. Simulations and accompanying activities can be accessed from the IOP site and from www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis. Sharing of these resources is encouraged, with all usage under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence. Instructors can email quantumphysics@iop.org for activity solutions and to request to modify materials.

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