Oscillations in the mean transition time of a particle scattered on a double slit potential.

Abstract

Scattering through a double slit potential is one of the most fundamental problems in quantum mechanics. It is well understood that due to the superposition of amplitudes, one observes a spatial interference pattern in the scattered wavefunction reflecting the superposition of amplitudes coming from both slits. However, the effect of the double slit on the mean time it takes to traverse the slit has not been considered previously. Using a transition path time formalism, we show that when a single Gaussian wavepacket is scattered through a double slit potential, one finds not only oscillations in the scattered density resulting from the spatial interference created by the splitting of the wavepacket but also an oscillatory pattern in the mean scattering time. Long times are associated with low values of a suitably defined momentum, and short times with higher values. The double slit thus serves as a momentum filtering device. We also find an interference pattern in the time averaged momentum weak value profile of the scattered particle implying that the double slit also acts as a weak momentum filter. These results not only demonstrate the value of considering transition path time distributions in their quantum mechanical context but also present a challenge to semiclassical approximations-can they account for temporal interference?