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Physical Review A

Violations of locality in polarization-correlation measurements with phase shifters

J. R. Torgerson, David A. Branning, Carlos Henrique Monken, L. Mandeļ

Published Jun 1, 1995• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two-photon polarization-correlation measurements have been performed in order to test local realism under conditions in which the two photons pass through quarter-wave plates before reaching the polarizers. The motivation for this experiment is the fact that two previous experiments with quarter-wave plates preceding the polarizers failed to observe statistically significant violations of locality [J. F. Clauser, Nuovo Cimento 338, 740 (1976); A. J. Duncan, H. Kleinpoppen, and Z. A. Sheikh, in Bell's Theorem and the Foundations of Modern Physics, edited by A. van der Merwe, F. Selleri, and G. Tarozzi (World Scientific, Singapore, 1992), p. 161]. We find that the Clauser-Horne type of Bell inequality is violated by about 40 standard deviations. Possible reasons for the failure of earlier experiments are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.51.4400

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Two-photon polarization-correlation measurements have been performed in order to test local realism under conditions in which the two photons pass through quarter-wave plates before reaching the polarizers. The motivation for this experiment is the fact that two previous experiments with quarter-wave plates preceding the polarizers failed to observe statistically significant violations of locality [J. F. Clauser, Nuovo Cimento 338, 740 (1976); A. J. Duncan, H. Kleinpoppen, and Z. A. Sheikh, in Bell's Theorem and the Foundations of Modern Physics, edited by A. van der Merwe, F. Selleri, and G. Tarozzi (World Scientific, Singapore, 1992), p. 161]. We find that the Clauser-Horne type of Bell inequality is violated by about 40 standard deviations. Possible reasons for the failure of earlier experiments are discussed.
John Bell’s theorem of 1964 states that local elements of physical reality, existing independent of measurement, are inconsistent with the predictions of quantum mechanics (Bell, J. S. (1964), Physics (College. Park. Md). Specifically, correlations between measurement results from distant entangled systems would be smaller than predicted by quantum physics. This is expressed in Bell’s inequalities. Employing modifications of Bell’s inequalities, many experiments have been performed that convincingly support the quantum predictions. Yet, all experiments rely on assumptions, which provide loopholes for a local realist explanation of the measurement. Here we report an experiment with polarization-entangled photons that simultaneously closes the most significant of these loopholes. We use a highly efficient source of entangled photons, distributed these over a distance of 58.5 meters, and implemented rapid random setting generation and high-efficiency detection to observe a violation of a Bell inequality with high statistical significance. The merely statistical probability of our results to occur under local realism is less than 3.74×10-31, corresponding to an 11.5 standard deviation effect.
A correlation inequality is derived from local realism and a supplementary assumption. This inequality is violated by a factor of 1.5 in the case of real experiments, whereas previous inequalities such as Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality of 1969 and Clauser-Horne inequality of 1974 are violated by a factor of 2\sqrt 22​. Thus the magnitude of violation of this inequality is approximately 20.7% larger than the magnitude of violation of previous inequalities. Moreover, the present inequality can be used to test locality very simply because it requires the measurements of only two detection probabilities. In contrast, Clauser-Horne inequality requires the measurements of five detection probabilities.
The EPR paradox was caused by the provision that quantum variables must have pre-existing values. This type of "hidden property realism" was later falsified by Bell's Theorem. Accordingly, the physical basis for action-at-a-distance between entangled quanta was removed. Yet, modern interpretations present Bell's inequality as a Locality Criterion, as if Bell violations can only happen at the quantum level, and only with remote interactions. This is a questionable practice, considering that classical joint measurements also violate such inequalities for mutually exclusive wave properties. In particular, consecutive measurements of polarization produce the same coefficients of correlation as parallel measurements with entangled quanta, yet they are explicitly local. Furthermore, it is possible to combine parallel and consecutive measurements of Type I polarization-entangled photons in a single experiment, conclusively showing that quantum Bell violations can be local. Surprisingly, classical phenomena also require nonlocal interpretations if pre-existing properties are taken for granted. Hence, the solution is to reject the models with pre-existing properties for both classical and quantum wave-like phenomena.
An inequality is deduced from Einstein's locality and a supplementary assumption. This inequality defines an experiment that can actually be performed with present technology to test local realism. Quantum mechanics violates this inequality a factor of 1.5. In contrast, quantum mechanics violates previous inequalities [for example, those of J. F. Clauser, M. A. Horne, A. Shimony, and R. A. Holt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 880 (1969); S. J. Freedman and I. F. Clauser ibid. 28, 938 (1972); and J. F. Clauser and M. A. Horne, Phys. Rev. D 10, 526 (1974)] by a factor of 2.\sqrt{2}.2​. Thus the magnitude of violation of the inequality derived in this paper is approximately 20.7% larger than the magnitude of violation of previous inequalities. This result can be particularly important for the experimental test of locality.
Quantum physics violates the basic assumptions of local realism. Particles can be entangled with each other in ways that allow correlations stronger than possible in classical physics. This was first realized by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) in 1935 and led them to conclude that quantum theory was incomplete. It took about 30 years before J. S. Bell found observable consequences of this phenomenon by showing how entangled states violate inequalities for two-particle correlations derived purely from the assumption that the world obeys local realism. Violations of Bell inequalities were first observed experimentally in the Aspect experiment, which will be discussed below. Such experiments are technically challenging and care is needed to avoid any loopholes in the experimental setup that would still permit the description of the experiments by a local realistic theory. Bell inequalities describe violations of local realism on average, meaning that each individual experimental outcome could occur in a local realistic theory. It is the statistics of these outcomes that violates local realism. In contrast, another class of quantum states, so-called Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states, which contain three particles, can be shown to violate local realism in each measurement outcome. We will also discuss this class of states and experiments by Zeilinger's group, which demonstrated this type of violation of local realism for the first time. Our aim here is not to discuss the exact relations between quantum entanglement, non-locality and realism, and their physical and philosophical implications. While this is a highly interesting topic which attracts a lot of attention from researchers, such an exploration would go beyond the scope of this book.
Conventional tests of Bell’s inequality rely on entangled photon pairs. Here, we replace entangled pairs with two independent photons of orthogonal polarization, and demonstrate that Bell’s inequality is still violated. Given the inherent local realism of independent photons, this experiment proves that Bell’s inequality cannot falsify the local realism of photons. We thus conjecture that the violation of Bell’s inequality by entangled photon pairs originates from their orthogonal polarizations, rather than the breakdown of local realism. To interpret this unexpected violation with independent photons, we further substitute the two photons with two monochromatic light beams, and calculate the transmittance correlation through polarizers via Malus’s law and Karl Pearson’s correlation formula. We show that this correlation also defies Bell’s inequality. Retracing the derivation of Bell’s inequality reveals its validity is restricted to binary events, which accounts for the observed violation with light beams. Finally, we propose a thought experiment involving gradual attenuation of light intensity down to the single-photon regime, and hypothesize that single-photon transmission through a polarizer does not constitute a binary event. This hypothesis provides a unified interpretation for both our experimental findings and all canonical Bell inequality tests reported to date.