Experimental Observation of Anomalous Complementary Weak Values from Correlated Pairwise Two-State Vectors

Abstract

Weak values (WVs) arise from weak measurements performed within a time-symmetric formulation of quantum mechanics, where a system is both pre- and post-selected. Anomalous WVs that lie far outside the eigenvalue spectrum of the observable hold both fundamental and practical significance. However, their generation typically relies on near-orthogonal pre- and post-selection, which confines them to a single post-selection outcome with extremely low success probability. This constraint limits experimental accessibility and hinders the full exploitation of time symmetry. To overcome these limitations, we utilize quantum entanglement and post-selection-controlled operations to generate correlated pairwise two-state vectors. By changing the role of post-selection from passive filtering to active engineering, this approach enables the observation of anomalous complementary WVs associated with mutually exclusive post-selection branches. Our results extend the operational accessibility of time-symmetric quantum structures associated with the two-state vector formalism, and open new avenues for exploring the applications of time symmetry in quantum information processing.