Violation of Bell's inequality under strict Einstein locality conditions

Violation of Bell's inequality under strict Einstein locality conditions

February 1, 2008 | Gregor Weihs, Thomas Jennewein, Christoph Simon, Harald Weinfurter, and Anton Zeilinger
This paper reports a strong violation of Bell's inequality in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type experiment with independent observers. The experiment fully enforces the condition of locality, a key assumption in Bell's theorem. The necessary space-like separation of the observations was achieved by placing the observers 400 meters apart, using ultra-fast and random analyzer settings, and ensuring independent data registration. The experiment used polarization-entangled photon pairs generated by type-II parametric down-conversion. The photons were sent to the observers through optical fibers, with the fiber lengths carefully chosen to ensure simultaneous detection. The measurement process involved randomly choosing the polarization analysis direction, setting the analyzer, and registering the photon, ensuring no information could travel between the observers before the measurement was completed. The experiment used high-speed physical random number generators and fast electro-optic modulators to ensure the analyzer settings were unpredictable and independent. Each observer had their own time interval analyzer and atomic clock, synchronized only once before each experiment cycle. The experiment tested Bell's inequality using the CHSH formulation. The results showed a violation of the inequality, with a value of S = 2.73 ± 0.02, corresponding to a violation of the CHSH inequality of 30 standard deviations. This result confirms the predictions of quantum mechanics and highlights the nonlocal nature of quantum mechanics. The experiment also discusses the implications of the results, including the possibility of local realistic or semi-classical interpretations, although these are considered unlikely given the high visibility of the perfect correlations. The experiment also notes that further improvements, such as having human observers choose the analyzer directions, would be necessary to achieve higher detection efficiency. The results suggest that a shift in classical philosophical positions may be necessary to accept the nonlocal nature of quantum mechanics.This paper reports a strong violation of Bell's inequality in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type experiment with independent observers. The experiment fully enforces the condition of locality, a key assumption in Bell's theorem. The necessary space-like separation of the observations was achieved by placing the observers 400 meters apart, using ultra-fast and random analyzer settings, and ensuring independent data registration. The experiment used polarization-entangled photon pairs generated by type-II parametric down-conversion. The photons were sent to the observers through optical fibers, with the fiber lengths carefully chosen to ensure simultaneous detection. The measurement process involved randomly choosing the polarization analysis direction, setting the analyzer, and registering the photon, ensuring no information could travel between the observers before the measurement was completed. The experiment used high-speed physical random number generators and fast electro-optic modulators to ensure the analyzer settings were unpredictable and independent. Each observer had their own time interval analyzer and atomic clock, synchronized only once before each experiment cycle. The experiment tested Bell's inequality using the CHSH formulation. The results showed a violation of the inequality, with a value of S = 2.73 ± 0.02, corresponding to a violation of the CHSH inequality of 30 standard deviations. This result confirms the predictions of quantum mechanics and highlights the nonlocal nature of quantum mechanics. The experiment also discusses the implications of the results, including the possibility of local realistic or semi-classical interpretations, although these are considered unlikely given the high visibility of the perfect correlations. The experiment also notes that further improvements, such as having human observers choose the analyzer directions, would be necessary to achieve higher detection efficiency. The results suggest that a shift in classical philosophical positions may be necessary to accept the nonlocal nature of quantum mechanics.
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