Deterministic quantum teleportation between distant atomic objects

Quantum teleportation is a key ingredient of quantum networks and a building block for quantum computation. Teleportation between distant material objects using light as the quantum information carrier has been a particularly exciting goal. Here we demonstrate a new element of the quantum teleportation landscape, the deterministic continuous variable (cv) teleportation between distant material objects. The objects are macroscopic atomic ensembles at room temperature. Entanglement required for teleportation is distributed by light propagating from one ensemble to the other. Quantum states encoded in a collective spin state of one ensemble are teleported onto another ensemble using this entanglement and homodyne measurements on light. By implementing process tomography, we demonstrate that the experimental fidelity of the quantum teleportation is higher than that achievable by any classical process. Furthermore, we demonstrate the benefits of deterministic teleportation by teleporting a dynamically changing sequence of spin states from one distant object onto another

Purification of Single-photon Entanglement

Single-photon entanglement is a simple form of entanglement that exists between two spatial modes sharing a single photon. Despite its elementary form, it provides a resource as useful as polarization-entangled photons and it can be used for quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping operations. Here, we report the first experiment where single-photon entanglement is purified with a simple linear-optics based protocol. Besides its conceptual interest, this result might find applications in long distance quantum communication based on quantum repeaters.Comment: Main article: 5 pages, 4 figure

Non-realism : deep thought or a soft option ?

The claim that the observation of a violation of a Bell inequality leads to an alleged alternative between nonlocality and non-realism is annoying because of the vagueness of the second term.Comment: 5 page

Are There Quantum Effects Coming from Outside Space-time? Nonlocality, free will and "no many-worlds"

Observing the violation of Bell's inequality tells us something about all possible future theories: they must all predict nonlocal correlations. Hence Nature is nonlocal. After an elementary introduction to nonlocality and a brief review of some recent experiments, I argue that Nature's nonlocality together with the existence of free will is incompatible with the many-worlds view of quantum physics.Comment: Talk presented at the meeting "Is Science Compatible with Our Desire for Freedom?" organised by the Social Trends Institute at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Octobre 201

On foundations of quantum physics

Some aspects of the interpretation of quantum theory are discussed. It is emphasized that quantum theory is formulated in the Cartesian coordinate system; in other coordinates the result obtained with the help of the Hamiltonian formalism and commutator relations between 'canonically conjugated' coordinate and momentum operators leads to a wrong version of quantum mechanics. The origin of time is analyzed in detail by the example of atomic collision theory. It is shown that for a closed system like the three-body (two nuclei + electron) time-dependent Schroedinger equation has no physical meaning since in the high impact energy limit it transforms into an equation with two independent time-like variables; the time appears in the stationary Schroedinger equation as a result of extraction of a classical subsystem (two nuclei) from a closed three-body system. Following the Einstein-Rozen-Podolsky experiment and Bell's inequality the wave function is interpreted as an actual field of information in the elementary form. The relation between physics and mathematics is also discussed.Comment: This article is extended version of paper: Solov'ev, E.A.: Phys.At.Nuc. v. 72, 853 (2009

Space-like Separation in a Bell Test assuming Gravitationally Induced Collapses

We report on a Bell experiment with space-like separation assuming that the measurement time is related to gravity-induced state reduction. Two energy-time entangled photons are sent through optical fibers and directed into unbalanced interferometers at two receiving stations separated by 18 km. At each station, the detection of a photon triggers the displacement of a macroscopic mass. The timing ensures space-like separation from the moment a photon enters its interferometer until the mass has moved. 2-photon interference fringes with a visibility of up to 90.5% are obtained, leading to a violation of Bell inequality

Using simple elastic bands to explain quantum mechanics: a conceptual review of two of Aert's machine-models

From the beginning of his research, the Belgian physicist Diederik Aerts has shown great creativity in inventing a number of concrete machine-models that have played an important role in the development of general mathematical and conceptual formalisms for the description of the physical reality. These models can also be used to demystify much of the strangeness in the behavior of quantum entities, by allowing to have a peek at what's going on - in structural terms - behind the "quantum scenes," during a measurement. In this author's view, the importance of these machine-models, and of the approaches they have originated, have been so far seriously underappreciated by the physics community, despite their success in clarifying many challenges of quantum physics. To fill this gap, and encourage a greater number of researchers to take cognizance of the important work of so-called Geneva-Brussels school, we describe and analyze in this paper two of Aerts' historical machine-models, whose operations are based on simple breakable elastic bands. The first one, called the spin quantum-machine, is able to replicate the quantum probabilities associated with the spin measurement of a spin-1/2 entity. The second one, called the \emph{connected vessels of water model} (of which we shall present here an alternative version based on elastics) is able to violate Bell's inequality, as coincidence measurements on entangled states can do.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Quantum correlations in Newtonian space and time: arbitrarily fast communication or nonlocality

We investigate possible explanations of quantum correlations that satisfy the principle of continuity, which states that everything propagates gradually and continuously through space and time. In particular, following [J.D. Bancal et al, Nature Physics 2012], we show that any combination of local common causes and direct causes satisfying this principle, i.e. propagating at any finite speed, leads to signalling. This is true even if the common and direct causes are allowed to propagate at a supraluminal-but-finite speed defined in a Newtonian-like privileged universal reference frame. Consequently, either there is supraluminal communication or the conclusion that Nature is nonlocal (i.e. discontinuous) is unavoidable.Comment: It is an honor to dedicate this article to Yakir Aharonov, the master of quantum paradoxes. Version 2 contains some more references and a clarified conclusio

What is Quantum? Unifying Its Micro-Physical and Structural Appearance

We can recognize two modes in which 'quantum appears' in macro domains: (i) a 'micro-physical appearance', where quantum laws are assumed to be universal and they are transferred from the micro to the macro level if suitable 'quantum coherence' conditions (e.g., very low temperatures) are realized, (ii) a 'structural appearance', where no hypothesis is made on the validity of quantum laws at a micro level, while genuine quantum aspects are detected at a structural-modeling level. In this paper, we inquire into the connections between the two appearances. We put forward the explanatory hypothesis that, 'the appearance of quantum in both cases' is due to 'the existence of a specific form of organisation, which has the capacity to cope with random perturbations that would destroy this organisation when not coped with'. We analyse how 'organisation of matter', 'organisation of life', and 'organisation of culture', play this role each in their specific domain of application, point out the importance of evolution in this respect, and put forward how our analysis sheds new light on 'what quantum is'.Comment: 10 page