Dephasing due to Which Path Detector

Abstract

We study dephasing of electrons induced by a which path detector and thus verify Bohr's complementarity principle for fermions. We utilize a double path interferometer with two slits, with one slit being replaced by a coherent quantum dot (QD). A short one dimensional channel, in the form of a quantum point contact (QPC), in close proximity to the QD, serves as a which path detector. We find that by varying the properties of the QPC detector we affect the visibility of the interference, inducing thus dephasing. We develop a simple model to explain the dephasing due to the nearby detector and find good agreement with the experiment.