We entangle two photons, with the first detected even before the other is created, by using entanglement swapping between temporally-separated polarization-entangled photon pairs. This result shows the nonlocality of quantum mechanics in spacetime.
The role of the timing and order of quantum measurements is not just a fundamental question of quantum mechanics, but also a puzzling one. Any part of a quantum system that has finished evolving can be measured immediately or saved for later, without affecting the final results, regardless of the continued evolution of the rest of the system. In addition, the nonlocality of quantum mechanics, as manifested by entanglement, does not apply only to particles with spacelike separation, but also to particles with timelike separation. In order to demonstrate these principles, we generated and fully characterized an entangled pair of photons that have never coexisted. Using entanglement swapping between two temporally separated photon pairs, we entangle one photon from the first pair with another photon from the second pair. The first photon was detected even before the other was created. The observed two-photon state demonstrates that entanglement can be shared between timelike separated quantum systems.
We experimentally entangle freely propagating particles that never physically interacted with one another or which have never been dynamically coupled by any other means. This demonstrates that quantum entanglement requires the entangled particles neither to come from a common source nor to have interacted in the past. In our experiment we take two pairs of polarization entangled photons and subject one photon from each pair to a Bell-state measurement. This results in projecting the other two outgoing photons into an entangled state.
Entanglement swapping at 1550 nm was experimentally demonstrated based on two polarization‐entangled photon pairs, which were created in two independent PPLN waveguides. Mandel dip was measured by using fourfold coincidences to yield a visibility of 71.8% and verify quantum interference between photons from two separated sources. By making Bell‐state measurement, the two initially independent photons were projected into an entanglement state. An interference visibility of 37.5% was observed for these two photons indicating the entanglement state was successfully swapped by using polarization‐entangled photon pairs in the telecom band.