Interference due to coherence swapping

Abstract

We propose a method called ‘coherence swapping’ which enables us to create superposition of a particle in two distinct paths, which is fed with initially incoherent, independent radiation. This phenomenon is also present for the charged particles, and can be used to swap the effect of flux line due to the Aharonov–Bohm effect. We propose an optical version of experimental set-up to test the coherence swapping. The phenomenon, which is simpler than entanglement swapping or teleportation, raises some fundamental questions about the true nature of wave-particle duality, and also opens up the possibility of studying the quantum erasure from a new angle.