File:Mach-Zehnder photons animation.gif

Summary

Description
English: Animation of photons in a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. In the empty interferometer each photon interferes with itself. If a detector is placed in the interferometer, the wavefunction will collapse so that the photon is either detected directly or it will move on and split at the second beam splitter without interference.
Date
Source Own work
Author user:Geek3
GIF development
InfoField

Source Code

The image is created by the following python source-code. Requirements:

Python Matplotlib source code
#!/usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf8 -*-

from math import *
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.patches import Polygon, Circle, Wedge
from matplotlib import animation
import numpy as np

# settings
fname = 'Mach-Zehnder_photons_animation'
width, height = 300, 220
nframes = 100
nphotons = 12
fps = 15

x0 = 100.5
x1 = 218.5
y0 = 200.5
y1 = 80.5
lx, lw, lh = 5, 46, 21 # laser
dtect = 62.5
t1, t2, tmove = 0.25, 0.9, 0.025
ymove = 24
rp = 2. # photon radius
cp1 = '#ff0000' # photon color
cp2 = '#ffaaaa' # splitphoton color

##
xstart = lx + lw / 2.
dx = x1 - x0
dy = y1 - y0
l = (x0 - xstart) + abs(dx) + abs(dy) + dtect + 2.*rp
xdet0 = (x0 + x1) / 2
fly_frac = 0.7
v = l / fly_frac
tdet0 = (xdet0 + 2.*rp - xstart) / v
tdet12 = l / v

# introduce artificial antibunching for illustration purpose
ptimes = (np.random.random() + np.sort(np.random.random(3*nphotons))[::3]) % 1

photons = [{} for i in range(nphotons)]
for i, p in enumerate(photons):
    p['t0'] = ptimes[i]
    if t1 <= (p['t0'] + tdet0) % 1 and (p['t0'] + tdet0) % 1 <= t2:
        # photon sees first detector
        if np.random.randint(2) == 0:
            # photon hits extra detector
            p['arm'] = 'none'
            p['det'] = 0
        else:
            # photon escapes first detector
            p['arm'] = 'lower'
            # => random detection at second beam splitter
            if np.random.randint(2) == 0:
                p['det'] = 1
            else:
                p['det'] = 2
    else:
        # photon sees standard Mach-Zehnder interferometer
        p['arm'] = 'both'
        p['det'] = 1
    
    if p['det'] == 0:
        p['tdet'] = (p['t0'] + tdet0) % 1
    else:
        p['tdet'] = (p['t0'] + tdet12) % 1
    p['click_frame'] = int(round(p['tdet'] * nframes)) % nframes

plt.close('all')
mpl.rc('path', snap=False)

def animate(nframe):
    # prepare a clean and image-filling canvas for each frame
    plt.clf()
    fig.gca().set_position((0, 0, 1, 1))
    plt.xlim(0, width)
    plt.ylim(0, height)
    plt.axis('off')
    
    t = float(nframe) / nframes
    
    # photons
    for p in photons:
        s0 = v * ((t - p['t0']) % 1)
        if s0 > l:
            continue
        s = s0 + start - x0
        if s <= 0:
            # from laser to first beam splitter
            x, y = x0 + s, y0
            fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((x, y), rp, color=cp1))
        elif s <= abs(dx) + abs(dy):
            # in the interferometer
            if s < abs(dx):
                xu, yu = x0 + copysign(s, dx), y0
            else:
                xu, yu = x1, y0 + copysign(s - abs(dx), dy)
            if s < abs(dy):
                xd, yd = x0, y0 + copysign(s, dy)
            else:
                xd, yd = x0 + copysign(s - abs(dy), dx), y1
                
            if s < xdet0 - x0 or p['arm'] == 'both':
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((xu, yu), rp, color=cp2))
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((xd, yd), rp, color=cp2))
            elif p['arm'] == 'lower':
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((xd, yd), rp, color=cp1))
        else:
            # after the interferometer
            x, y = x1 + (s - abs(dx) - abs(dy)), y1
            if p['arm'] == 'both':
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((x, y), rp, color=cp1))
            elif p['arm'] == 'lower':
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((x, y), rp, color=cp2))
                x, y = x1, y1 - (s - abs(dx) - abs(dy))
                fig.gca().add_patch(Circle((x, y), rp, color=cp2))
    
    
    # laser
    fig.gca().add_patch(
        Polygon([[lx, y0-lh/2.], [lx, y0+lh/2.],
                 [lx+lw, y0+lh/2.], [lx+lw, y0-lh/2.]],
            closed=True, facecolor='#cccccc', edgecolor='black'))
    plt.text(lx+lw/2., y0-2, 'laser', fontsize=12,
        horizontalalignment='center', verticalalignment='center')
    
    # beam splitters
    b = 12
    fig.gca().add_patch(
        Polygon([[x0-b, y0+b], [x0+b, y0+b], [x0+b, y0-b],
                 [x0-b, y0-b], [x0-b, y0+b], [x0+b, y0-b]],
            closed=True, facecolor='#88aadd', edgecolor='black',
            linewidth=2, alpha=0.4))
    fig.gca().add_patch(
        Polygon([[x1-b, y1+b], [x1+b, y1+b], [x1+b, y1-b],
                 [x1-b, y1-b], [x1-b, y1+b], [x1+b, y1-b]],
            closed=True, facecolor='#88aadd', edgecolor='black',
            linewidth=2, alpha=0.4))
    
    # mirrors
    m, mw = 12, 4
    fig.gca().add_patch(
        Polygon([[x1-m+mw/2., y0+m+mw/2.], [x1+m+mw/2., y0-m+mw/2.]],
            closed=False, edgecolor='#555555', linewidth=mw))
    fig.gca().add_patch(
        Polygon([[x0-m-mw/2., y1+m-mw/2.], [x0+m-mw/2., y1-m-mw/2.]],
            closed=False, edgecolor='#555555', linewidth=mw))
    
    # detectors
    c_off = '#cccccc'
    c_on = '#cc0000'
    c0 = c1 = c2 = c_off
    for p in photons:
        if p['click_frame'] == nframe:
            if p['det'] == 0: c0 = c_on
            if p['det'] == 1: c1 = c_on
            if p['det'] == 2: c2 = c_on
    if t1 <= t and t <= t2:
        yd = y0
    else:
        yd = y0 - min((t1-t)%1, tmove, (t-t2)%1) * ymove / float(tmove)
    fig.gca().add_patch(mpl.patches.Wedge((xdet0, yd), b, 270, 90, fc=c0))
    fig.gca().add_patch(mpl.patches.Wedge((x1 + dtect, y1), b, 270, 90, fc=c1))
    fig.gca().add_patch(mpl.patches.Wedge((x1, y1 - dtect), b, 180, 0, fc=c2))

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(width/100., height/100.))
anim = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, animate, frames=nframes)
anim.save(fname + '.gif', writer='imagemagick', fps=fps)

Postprocessing with gifsicle:

gifsicle -k 64 --background="#ffffff" -O3 --careful -i < Mach-Zehnder_photons_animation.gif > Mach-Zehnder_photons_animation_.gif

Licensing

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