Turning off quantum duality

Abstract

We provide the first experimental confirmation of a three-way quantum coherence identity possessed by single pure-state photons. Our experimental results demonstrate that traditional wave-particle duality is specifically limited by this identity. As a new consequence, we show that quantum duality itself can be amplified, attenuated, or turned completely off. In the Young double-slit context this quantum coherence identity is found to be directly relevant, and it supplies a rare quantitative backup for one of Bohr's philosophical pronouncements.