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Physical Review A

Proposed test of Bell’s inequality without a detection loophole by using entangled Rydberg atoms

Matthias Freyberger, P. K. Aravind, Michael Horne, Abner Shimony

Published Mar 1, 1996• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The tests of Bell's inequality to date have failed to be definitive because of the ``detection loophole,'' due to the inefficiency of photodetectors. An idealized experiment using pairs of two-level Rydberg atoms, correlated with the help of a quantized cavity field, was proposed by Oliver and Stroud [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 4, 1426 (1987)] for the purpose of blocking this loophole. We develop their proposal by removing their idealizations. We carefully define the ensemble of atom pairs by imposing conditions on arrival times at the analyzers of the atoms. We take into account the spread of velocities of the atoms, which implies that the ensemble must be described quantum mechanically by a statistical operator rather than a pure state, and we show that with detector efficiencies of 0.9 or better, quantum mechanics implies a strong violation of Bell's inequality in the ensemble. Upper and lower bounds on ensemble averages can be inferred from experimental averages, thereby permitting an experimental test of Bell's inequality in the ensemble. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.1232

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The tests of Bell's inequality to date have failed to be definitive because of the ``detection loophole,'' due to the inefficiency of photodetectors. An idealized experiment using pairs of two-level Rydberg atoms, correlated with the help of a quantized cavity field, was proposed by Oliver and Stroud [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 4, 1426 (1987)] for the purpose of blocking this loophole. We develop their proposal by removing their idealizations. We carefully define the ensemble of atom pairs by imposing conditions on arrival times at the analyzers of the atoms. We take into account the spread of velocities of the atoms, which implies that the ensemble must be described quantum mechanically by a statistical operator rather than a pure state, and we show that with detector efficiencies of 0.9 or better, quantum mechanics implies a strong violation of Bell's inequality in the ensemble. Upper and lower bounds on ensemble averages can be inferred from experimental averages, thereby permitting an experimental test of Bell's inequality in the ensemble. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Experimental tests of Bell's inequality allow to distinguish quantum mechanics from local hidden variable theories. Such tests are performed by measuring correlations of two entangled particles (e.g. polarization of photons or spins of atoms). In order to constitute conclusive evidence, two conditions have to be satisfied. First, strict separation of the measurement events in the sense of special relativity is required ("locality loophole"). Second, almost all entangled pairs have to be detected (for particles in a maximally entangled state the required detector efficiency is 82.8%), which is hard to achieve experimentally ("detection loophole"). By using the recently demonstrated entanglement between single trapped atoms and single photons it becomes possible to entangle two atoms at a large distance via entanglement swapping. Combining the high detection efficiency achieved with atoms with the space-like separation of the atomic state detection events, both loopholes can be closed within the same experiment. In this paper we present estimations based on current experimental achievements which show that such an experiment is feasible in future.
Experimental tests of Bell's inequality allow to distinguish quantum mechanics from local hidden variable theories. Such tests are performed by measuring correlations of two entangled particles (e.g. polarization of photons or spins of atoms). In order to constitute conclusive evidence, two conditions have to be satisfied. First, strict separation of the measurement events in the sense of special relativity is required ("locality loophole"). Second, almost all entangled pairs have to be detected (for particles in a maximally entangled state the required detector efficiency is 82.8%), which is hard to achieve experimentally ("detection loophole"). By using the recently demonstrated entanglement between single trapped atoms and single photons it becomes possible to entangle two atoms at a large distance via entanglement swapping. Combining the high detection efficiency achieved with atoms with the space-like separation of the atomic state detection events, both loopholes can be closed within the same experiment. In this paper we present estimations based on current experimental achievements which show that such an experiment is feasible in future.
We study Bell-inequality tests with entanglement between a coherent-state field in a cavity and a two-level atom. In order to detect the cavity field for such a test, photon on-off measurements and photon number parity measurements, respectively, are investigated. When photon on-off measurements are used, at least 50% of detection efficiency is required to demonstrate violation of the Bell inequality. Photon number parity measurements for the cavity field can be effectively performed using ancillary atoms and an atomic detector, which leads to large degrees of Bell violations up to Cirel'son's bound. We also analyze decoherence effects in both field and atomic modes and discuss conditions required to perform a Bell inequality test free from the locality loophole.
The violation of Bell inequalities where both detection and locality loopholes are closed is crucial for device-independent assessments of quantum information. While of a technological nature, the simultaneous closing of both loopholes still remains a challenge. In Teo et al. [Nat. Commun. 4, 2104 (2013)], a realistic setup to produce an atom-photon entangled state that could reach a loophole-free Bell inequality violation within current experimental technology is proposed. Here we improve the analysis of this proposal by giving an analytical treatment that shows that the state proposed in Teo et al. [Nat. Commun. 4, 2104 (2013)] can violate a Bell inequality for arbitrarily low photodectection efficiency, when all other losses are ignored. Moreover, it is also able to violate a Bell inequality considering only atomic and homodyne measurements eliminating the need to consider inefficient photocounting measurements. In this case, the maximum Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality violation achievable is 2.29, and the minimum transmission required for violation is about 68%. Finally, we show that by postselecting on an atomic measurement, one can engineer superpositions of coherent states for various coherent state amplitudes.
An experimental test of Bell’s inequalities using two-level atoms is proposed. The test is analogous to that proposed by Bohm but, instead of using spins and Stern-Gerlach magnets, two-level atoms and resonant pulses are used. Two atoms excited to a common Rydberg state, but traveling in different directions, are introduced into a microwave cavity. The microwave field resonantly couples two Rydberg states and excites the atoms into a correlated state. The atoms then pass out of the cavity and into separate interaction regions where resonant microwave fields rotate their Bloch vectors through angles directly corresponding to the angles of orientation of the Stern-Gerlach magnets in the spin experiment. State selective ionization is then used to determine whether each atom is in the upper or lower Rydberg state. State selective ionization of Rydberg states has been demonstrated with an efficiency approaching 100% so that tests of Bell’s inequalities which are even more stringent than those using cascade photon polarization may be possible.
Rydberg atoms traversing a micromaser cavity one after the other can emerge in correlated states, and according to Copenhagen quantum mechanics this may lead to a violation of Bell's inequality, that is, to a Bell sum S>2. S is here calculated in various ideal physical situations including those with (1) different initial states of the atoms, (2) different free adjustable parameters, being either the phase or the turning angle of a classical radiation field put behind the cavity, and (3) either equal or different Rabi angles for successive atoms. The experiments are crucial for a realist interpretation which predicts S<2 or S=2 because particles of different kinds (photons and atoms) are involved.