arXiv:0909.0789 · New Journal of Physics
Experimental violation of Svetlichny's inequality
Jonathan Lavoie, Rainer Kaltenbaek, Kevin J. Resch
Abstract
It is well known that quantum mechanics is incompatible with local realistic theories. Svetlichny showed, through the development of a Bell-like inequality, that quantum mechanics is also incompatible with a restricted class of nonlocal realistic theories for three particles where any two-body nonlocal correlations are allowed (Svetlichny 1987 Phys. Rev. D 35 3066). In the present work, we experimentally generate three-photon GHZ states to test Svetlichny's inequality. Our states are fully characterized by quantum state tomography using an overcomplete set of measurements and have a fidelity of (84±1)% with the target state. We measure a convincing, 3.6σ, violation of Svetlichny's inequality and rule out this class of restricted nonlocal realistic models.