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Physics-Uspekhi

Interference of light and Bell's theorem

А. В. Белинский, Давид Николаевич Клышко

Published Aug 31, 1993• 464 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A review is presented of light-intensity interference experiments demonstrating the inadequacy of the classical concept of a priori properties of quantum objects (Bell's theorem). A detailed description of experimental procedures using N-photon light (N?= 2,3,...) is given and is accompanied by interpretations of experimental data in terms of quantum theory and a variety of clear classical models. Different formulations of the conflict between classical ideas and quantum theory are presented, including the Bell theorem without inequalities, the Kochen?Specker theorem, and so on.

DOI
10.1070/pu1993v036n08abeh002299

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A review is presented of light-intensity interference experiments demonstrating the inadequacy of the classical concept of a priori properties of quantum objects (Bell's theorem). A detailed description of experimental procedures using N-photon light (N?= 2,3,...) is given and is accompanied by interpretations of experimental data in terms of quantum theory and a variety of clear classical models. Different formulations of the conflict between classical ideas and quantum theory are presented, including the Bell theorem without inequalities, the Kochen?Specker theorem, and so on.
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Optical interference is regarded as a classical phenomenon and is usually completely described in classical terms, in which optical fields are represented by classical waves. Does it mean that optical interference, which is fundamentally ascribable to the phenomenon of a superposition of wave amplitudes, cannot be applied to test quantum phenomena? The superposition principle is at the heart of quantum physics and one could expect that it should distinguish the quantum nature of light from thewave nature. Our experience based on extensive theoretical analysis and experimental observations shows that classical and quantum theories of optical interference readily explain the presence of an interference pattern resulting from the first-order coherence. However, there are interference effects involving the higher order (second-order) coherence that distinguish the quantum (photon) nature of light from the wave nature. Quantum interference has recently returned to prominence because of its utility in manipulating spontaneous emission and other radiative properties of atomic systems. In this chapter, we present elementary concepts and definitions of both the classical and quantum theory of optical interference and discuss similarities and differences between these two approaches [80].
The Kochen-Specker theorem shows the incompatibility of noncontextual hidden variable theories with quantum mechanics. Quantum contextuality is a more general concept than quantum non-locality which is quite well tested in experiments using Bell inequalities. Within neutron interferometry we performed an experimental test of the Kochen-Specker theorem with an inequality, which identifies quantum contextuality, by using spin-path entanglement of single neutrons. Here entanglement is achieved not between different particles, but between degrees of freedom of a single neutron, i.e., between spin and path degree of freedom. Appropriate combinations of the spin analysis and the position of the phase shifter allow an experimental verification of the violation of an inequality derived from the Kochen-Specker theorem. The observed violation 2.291±0.008≰1 clearly shows that quantum mechanical predictions cannot be reproduced by noncontextual hidden variable theories.
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