Quantum delayed-choice protocol by means of the polarization degree of freedom of a photon

In this work, we revisit the previously demonstrated experiment called the quantum delayed-choice experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 230406 (2011)], which shows that it is possible to reveal the wave and particle nature of photons simultaneously. After discussing the main points of this paper concerning the fundamental aspect of wave-particle duality, we demonstrate theoretically that the same observation can be achieved by operating on the polarization state of a photon. For this purpose, we apply the same operators, except that they transform the polarization states, whereas mode operation was performed in the previous work. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America