Complementarity in a macroscopic observation

Abstract

Complementarity is usually considered as a phenomenon of microscopic systems. In this paper we report an experimental observation of complementarity in the correlated double-slit interference with a pseudothermal light source. The thermal light beam is divided into test and reference beams which are correlated with each other. The double-slit is set in the test arm, and the interference pattern can be observed in the intensity correlation between the two arms. The experimental results show that the disappearance of interference fringe depends on whether which-path information is gained through the reference arm. The experiment therefore witnesses the complementarity occurring in a macroscopic system.