Fringe visibility and correlation in Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter

Abstract

We study the wave–particle duality in a general Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter from the viewpoint of quantum information theory. The correlations (including the classical correlation and the quantum correlation) between the particle and the which-path detector are derived when they are in pure state or mixed state at the output of Mach–Zehnder interferometer. It is found that the fringe visibility and the correlations are effected by the asymmetric beam splitter and the input state of the particle. The complementary relations between the fringe visibility and the correlations are also presented.