Demonstration of Scully–Drühl-type quantum erasers on quantum computers

Abstract We present a novel quantum circuit that genuinely implements the Scully–Drühl-type delayed-choice quantum eraser, where the two recorders of the which-way information directly interact with the signal qubit and remain spatially separated. Experiments conducted on IBM Quantum and IonQ processors demonstrate that the recovery of interference patterns, to varying degrees, aligns closely with theoretical predictions, despite the presence of systematic errors. This quantum circuit-based approach, more manageable and versatile than traditional optical experiments, facilitates arbitrary adjustment of the erasure and enables a true random choice in a genuine delayed-choice manner. On the IBM Quantum platform, delay gates can be employed to further defer the random choice, thereby amplifying the retrocausal effect. Since gate operations are executed sequentially in time, the system does not have any involvement of random choice until after the signal qubit has been measured, therefore eliminating any potential philosophical loopholes regarding retrocausality that might exist in other experimental setups. Remarkably, quantum erasure is achieved with delay times up to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mstyle scriptlevel="0"/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>s</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> without noticeable decoherence, a feat challenging to replicate in optical setups.