An experimental test of non-local realism

Most working scientists hold fast to the concept of 'realism'--a viewpoint according to which an external reality exists independent of observation. But quantum physics has shattered some of our cornerstone beliefs. According to Bell's theorem, any theory that is based on the joint assumption of realism and locality (meaning that local events cannot be affected by actions in space-like separated regions) is at variance with certain quantum predictions. Experiments with entangled pairs of particles have amply confirmed these quantum predictions, thus rendering local realistic theories untenable. Maintaining realism as a fundamental concept would therefore necessitate the introduction of 'spooky' actions that defy locality. Here we show by both theory and experiment that a broad and rather reasonable class of such non-local realistic theories is incompatible with experimentally observable quantum correlations. In the experiment, we measure previously untested correlations between two entangled photons, and show that these correlations violate an inequality proposed by Leggett for non-local realistic theories. Our result suggests that giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with quantum experiments, unless certain intuitive features of realism are abandoned.     

Experimental test of quantum nonlocality in three-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement

Bell's theorem states that certain statistical correlations predicted by quantum physics for measurements on two-particle systems cannot be understood within a realistic picture based on local properties of each individual particle-even if the two particles are separated by large distances. Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen first recognized the fundamental significance of these quantum correlations (termed 'entanglement' by Schrodinger) and the two-particle quantum predictions have found ever-increasing experimental support. A more striking conflict between quantum mechanical and local realistic predictions (for perfect correlations) has been discovered; but experimental verification has been difficult, as it requires entanglement between at least three particles. Here we report experimental confirmation of this conflict, using our recently developed method to observe three-photon entanglement, or 'Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger' (GHZ) states. The results of three specific experiments, involving measurements of polarization correlations between three photons, lead to predictions for a fourth experiment; quantum physical predictions are mutually contradictory with expectations based on local realism. We find the results of the fourth experiment to be in agreement with the quantum prediction and in striking conflict with local realism.     

定域隐变量理论的实验检验

<正> 一、历史上两种观点的争论量子力学的形式体系是完美的,它经受了半个多世纪的各种严格的实验检验,但是关于量子力学理论基础的解释,无论物理上还是哲学上都存在重大的原则分岐。假若把量子力学的形式体系彻底地贯彻到对现实物理世界的认识中去,那么势必导致与经典物理概念和传统哲学观念格格不入的新概念和新观点     

Violation of a Bell-like inequality in single-neutron interferometry

Non-local correlations between spatially separated systems have been extensively discussed in the context of the Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) paradox and Bell's inequalities. Many proposals and experiments designed to test hidden variable theories and the violation of Bell's inequalities have been reported; usually, these involve correlated photons, although recently an experiment was performed with (9)Be(+) ions. Nevertheless, it is of considerable interest to show that such correlations (arising from quantum mechanical entanglement) are not simply a peculiarity of photons. Here we measure correlations between two degrees of freedom (comprising spatial and spin components) of single neutrons; this removes the need for a source of entangled neutron pairs, which would present a considerable technical challenge. A Bell-like inequality is introduced to clarify the correlations that can arise between observables of otherwise independent degrees of freedom. We demonstrate the violation of this Bell-like inequality: our measured value is 2.051 +/- 0.019, clearly above the value of 2 predicted by classical hidden variable theories.     

贝尔不等式及其实验验证

阐述了关于量子力学完备性问题的争论和EPR论证、尤其重点讨论了贝乐不等式的建立及其与量子力学基本解释的关系，也较详尽地介绍了20世纪70年代以来贝尔不等式的实验验证情况（特别是奥地利因斯布鲁克小组的实验情况）。结果表明，贝尔不等式明显不成立，这一事实既体现了对量子力学完备性的支持，同时也反映出更深刻的科学含义，这些无论对量子力学的进一步发展，还是对未来的量子通信，都是具有重大意义的。     

Bell不等式及其局域性假设

文中首先证明Bell不等式成立的充足条件是几率的Kolmogorov模型.不等式破缺只说明对量子关联系统Kolmogorov模型失效.其次,Bell的局域性假设不能与 Einstein 的“分离性”条件等价,它隐含有苛刻的几率约束条件,最后指出了 Bell 不等式也不是完全地符合量子理论的预测.因此,量子理论基础问题的讨论,并没有由于 Bell 不等式的实验验证作出判决.     

Hardy定理的一种证明

在两个自旋1 2粒子形成纠缠态的条件下不用不等式论证了量子力学具有Ein stein,Podolsky,和Rosen的局域实在论所无法说明的非局域关联性。从而证明了EPR局域实在论不能重现量子力学的独特的非经典结论。     

Experimental non-classicality of an indivisible quantum system

In contrast to classical physics, quantum theory demands that not all properties can be simultaneously well defined; the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a manifestation of this fact. Alternatives have been explored--notably theories relying on joint probability distributions or non-contextual hidden-variable models, in which the properties of a system are defined independently of their own measurement and any other measurements that are made. Various deep theoretical results imply that such theories are in conflict with quantum mechanics. Simpler cases demonstrating this conflict have been found and tested experimentally with pairs of quantum bits (qubits). Recently, an inequality satisfied by non-contextual hidden-variable models and violated by quantum mechanics for all states of two qubits was introduced and tested experimentally. A single three-state system (a qutrit) is the simplest system in which such a contradiction is possible; moreover, the contradiction cannot result from entanglement between subsystems, because such a three-state system is indivisible. Here we report an experiment with single photonic qutrits which provides evidence that no joint probability distribution describing the outcomes of all possible measurements--and, therefore, no non-contextual theory--can exist. Specifically, we observe a violation of the Bell-type inequality found by Klyachko, Can, Binicio?lu and Shumovsky. Our results illustrate a deep incompatibility between quantum mechanics and classical physics that cannot in any way result from entanglement.     

Experimental entanglement distillation and 'hidden' non-locality

Entangled states are central to quantum information processing, including quantum teleportation, efficient quantum computation and quantum cryptography. In general, these applications work best with pure, maximally entangled quantum states. However, owing to dissipation and decoherence, practically available states are likely to be non-maximally entangled, partially mixed (that is, not pure), or both. To counter this problem, various schemes of entanglement distillation, state purification and concentration have been proposed. Here we demonstrate experimentally the distillation of maximally entangled states from non-maximally entangled inputs. Using partial polarizers, we perform a filtering process to maximize the entanglement of pure polarization-entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. We have also applied our methods to initial states that are partially mixed. After filtering, the distilled states demonstrate certain non-local correlations, as evidenced by their violation of a form of Bell's inequality. Because the initial states do not have this property, they can be said to possess 'hidden' non-locality.     

原子分子体系的引力效应

寻找完整的量子引力理论是目前理论物理中的前沿热点问题之一,而黑洞热力学和量子干涉仪探测引力效应被认为是正在形成的量子引力理论的两个重要的"实验区".前者通过将量子概念引入到广义相对论来检验二者如何结合,特别是量子力学幺正性将在这两个理论的结合中经受严峻考验;而后者通过量子系统在引力场背景中的演化来试验引力对系统量子属性的影响,在这一方面广义相对论等效原理在微观粒子领域将接受越来越严格的实验检验.目前,原子分子物理实验中出现了类似黑洞辐射的现象,然而,这些现象出现的理论机制还不是非常明确,究竟能否用目前已有的理论解释,或者还是需要构建新的理论来解释也是不清楚的,但是无论如何,这些现象的出现为实验研究量子引力理论打开了一扇窗户.另一方面,人们已经使用量子系统测量一些弱引力效应,这不仅为研究引力对量子系统的影响提供了便利条件,也为研究二者结合提供了一个好的突破口.本综述将结合我们近几年的工作,围绕原子分子体系中的强引力和弱引力效应来介绍和讨论这些问题.     

受非线性作用的微观粒子的运动特性及其非线性量子力学理论(Ⅰ)

与线性场的情况相比，微观粒子在非线性作用下的运动特性和本性发生很大变化，这说明在线性作用和非线性场中微观粒子的性质是明显不同的．这启示我们必须建立微观粒子在非线性体系或非线性场中运动规律的新理论．为此研究了与线性量子力学描写的微观量子效应迥然不同的宏观量子效应与非线性作用下的孤立子运动的紧密关系．结合现代孤立子理论和超导与超流理论，首先提出了非线性量子力学的基本原理及在此基础上建立了系统、完整的非线性量子力学理论体系，以及由此理论得出的一些新结论．最后还论证这个理论的正确性和自洽性，理论的运用范围及它的重大意义．     

Interference between two indistinguishable electrons from independent sources

Very much like the ubiquitous quantum interference of a single particle with itself, quantum interference of two independent, but indistinguishable, particles is also possible. For a single particle, the interference is between the amplitudes of the particle's wavefunctions, whereas the interference between two particles is a direct result of quantum exchange statistics. Such interference is observed only in the joint probability of finding the particles in two separated detectors, after they were injected from two spatially separated and independent sources. Experimental realizations of two-particle interferometers have been proposed; in these proposals it was shown that such correlations are a direct signature of quantum entanglement between the spatial degrees of freedom of the two particles ('orbital entanglement'), even though they do not interact with each other. In optics, experiments using indistinguishable pairs of photons encountered difficulties in generating pairs of independent photons and synchronizing their arrival times; thus they have concentrated on detecting bunching of photons (bosons) by coincidence measurements. Similar experiments with electrons are rather scarce. Cross-correlation measurements between partitioned currents, emanating from one source, yielded similar information to that obtained from auto-correlation (shot noise) measurements. The proposal of ref. 3 is an electronic analogue to the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment with classical light. It is based on the electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer that uses edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime. Here we implement such an interferometer. We partitioned two independent and mutually incoherent electron beams into two trajectories, so that the combined four trajectories enclosed an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Although individual currents and their fluctuations (shot noise measured by auto-correlation) were found to be independent of the Aharonov-Bohm flux, the cross-correlation between current fluctuations at two opposite points across the device exhibited strong Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, suggesting orbital entanglement between the two electron beams.     

量子通信研究的若干问题

1935 年A. Einstein、B. Podolsky 和N. Rosen 三人发表合写文章"量子力学对物理实在的描述是否完备?"该文的局域性原则与他的狭义相对论(SR) 相呼应,但与量子力学(QM) 不一致.1951 年D. Bohm 对EPR 思维作了现代意义上的陈述,实际上启动了量子纠缠态研究.在此基础上,1965 年J. Bell 提出了后来称为Bell 不等式的隐变量理论,而在1981 年-1982 年A. Aspect 做了多个精确实验,结果与Bell 不等式不符,而与QM 一致.因此,双粒子系统中存在QM 预期的奇异相关,其中的超空间(超距) 作用却与EPR 思维矛盾.在后来数十年中,Bell 型实验常盛不衰,互相纠缠的光子间隔由Aspect 时的15m 逐步加大到144km,而在2017 年由中国量子卫星扩展到1200km,十分惊人.EPR 论文的错误对科学研究提供了深刻的教益.近年来量子通信技术的发展,就是建筑在量子非局域性和量子纠缠的基础上的.量子信息学(QIT) 有三个主要研究方向——量子计算、量子通信和量子雷达.量子通信的关键点在于必须有绝对保密性.但这在实际上很难,故迄今不能说这问题已经解决.因此,我们认为在2017 年量子通信才获很大成就.     

Experimental demonstration of five-photon entanglement and open-destination teleportation

Quantum-mechanical entanglement of three or four particles has been achieved experimentally, and has been used to demonstrate the extreme contradiction between quantum mechanics and local realism. However, the realization of five-particle entanglement remains an experimental challenge. The ability to manipulate the entanglement of five or more particles is required for universal quantum error correction. Another key process in distributed quantum information processing, similar to encoding and decoding, is a teleportation protocol that we term 'open-destination' teleportation. An unknown quantum state of a single particle is teleported onto a superposition of N particles; at a later stage, this teleported state can be read out (for further applications) at any of the N particles, by a projection measurement on the remaining particles. Here we report a proof-of-principle demonstration of five-photon entanglement and open-destination teleportation (for N = 3). In the experiment, we use two entangled photon pairs to generate a four-photon entangled state, which is then combined with a single-photon state. Our experimental methods can be used for investigations of measurement-based quantum computation and multi-party quantum communication.     

Wave-particle duality of C(60) molecules

Quantum superposition lies at the heart of quantum mechanics and gives rise to many of its paradoxes. Superposition of de Broglie matter waves' has been observed for massive particles such as electrons, atoms and dimers, small van der Waals clusters, and neutrons. But matter wave interferometry with larger objects has remained experimentally challenging, despite the development of powerful atom interferometric techniques for experiments in fundamental quantum mechanics, metrology and lithography. Here we report the observation of de Broglie wave interference of C(60) molecules by diffraction at a material absorption grating. This molecule is the most massive and complex object in which wave behaviour has been observed. Of particular interest is the fact that C(60) is almost a classical body, because of its many excited internal degrees of freedom and their possible couplings to the environment. Such couplings are essential for the appearance of decoherence, suggesting that interference experiments with large molecules should facilitate detailed studies of this process.     

Generation of three-qubit entangled states using superconducting phase qubits

Entanglement is one of the key resources required for quantum computation, so the experimental creation and measurement of entangled states is of crucial importance for various physical implementations of quantum computers. In superconducting devices, two-qubit entangled states have been demonstrated and used to show violations of Bell's inequality and to implement simple quantum algorithms. Unlike the two-qubit case, where all maximally entangled two-qubit states are equivalent up to local changes of basis, three qubits can be entangled in two fundamentally different ways. These are typified by the states |GHZ>= (|000+?|111>)/ sqrt [2] and |W>= (|001>?+?|010>?+?|100>)/ sqrt [3]. Here we demonstrate the operation of three coupled superconducting phase qubits and use them to create and measure |GHZ> and |W>states. The states are fully characterized using quantum state tomography and are shown to satisfy entanglement witnesses, confirming that they are indeed examples of three-qubit entanglement and are not separable into mixtures of two-qubit entanglement.     

矢势A的客观性和可测性

本文首先介绍在磁场B=O区域内带电粒子的运动受到粒子未到达区域中的磁场的影响的微观实验和宏观实验(简称为微观A-B效应实验和宏观A-B效应实验)。在此基础上说明不引用矢势A的经典电动力学是不能对其进行解释的,而量子力学的薛定楞方程中本质地含有矢势A,因而A-B效应的本质的揭示首先来源于量子力学理论和微观领域的实验是很自然的。从而说明矢势A在经典电动力学和量子力学中都是不可缺少的客观存在的物理量,而且用宏观实验和微观实验都是可以对其进行测量的。     

量子场和量子力学的等价性

本文就Ｋｌｅｉｎ－Ｇｏｒｄｏｎ粒子论证其正则量子场论与多粒子体系量子力学实质上的等价性,认识这种等价性有助于更深刻地理解场的物理意义。此外,还对物理算符的场算符展开中出现正规乘积给出一个合理的解释。     

Squeezing and entanglement in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Entanglement, a key feature of quantum mechanics, is a resource that allows the improvement of precision measurements beyond the conventional bound attainable by classical means. This results in the standard quantum limit, which is reached in today's best available sensors of various quantities such as time and position. Many of these sensors are interferometers in which the standard quantum limit can be overcome by using quantum-entangled states (in particular spin squeezed states) at the two input ports. Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms are considered good candidates to provide such states involving a large number of particles. Here we demonstrate spin squeezed states suitable for atomic interferometry by splitting a condensate into a few parts using a lattice potential. Site-resolved detection of the atoms allows the measurement of the atom number difference and relative phase, which are conjugate variables. The observed fluctuations imply entanglement between the particles, a resource that would allow a precision gain of 3.8 dB over the standard quantum limit for interferometric measurements.     

Atomic homodyne detection of continuous-variable entangled twin-atom states

Historically, the completeness of quantum theory has been questioned using the concept of bipartite continuous-variable entanglement. The non-classical correlations (entanglement) between the two subsystems imply that the observables of one subsystem are determined by the measurement choice on the other, regardless of the distance between the subsystems. Nowadays, continuous-variable entanglement is regarded as an essential resource, allowing for quantum enhanced measurement resolution, the realization of quantum teleportation and quantum memories, or the demonstration of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. These applications rely on techniques to manipulate and detect coherences of quantum fields, the quadratures. Whereas in optics coherent homodyne detection of quadratures is a standard technique, for massive particles a corresponding method was missing. Here we report the realization of an atomic analogue to homodyne detection for the measurement of matter-wave quadratures. The application of this technique to a quantum state produced by spin-changing collisions in a Bose-Einstein condensate reveals continuous-variable entanglement, as well as the twin-atom character of the state. Our results provide a rare example of continuous-variable entanglement of massive particles. The direct detection of atomic quadratures has applications not only in experimental quantum atom optics, but also for the measurement of fields in many-body systems of massive particles.