A Strong Loophole-Free Test of Local Realism

POSTER

Abstract

We discuss theoretical and statistical aspects of a recent loophole-free violation of local realism using entangled photon pairs. The experiment ensures that all relevant events in the Bell test are spacelike separated by placing the parties far enough apart and using fast random number generators and high-speed polarization measurements. A high-quality polarization-entangled source of photons, combined with high-efficiency, low-noise, single-photon detectors, allows us to make measurements without requiring any fair-sampling assumptions. We collected six data sets, and for each data set we used a hypothesis test to compute the maximum probability (the p-value) that our experiment, if it had been governed by local realism, would produce a violation as large or larger than we observed. The smallest p-value we observed is 5.9 X 10\textasciicircum -9.

–

Authors

  • Peter Bierhorst

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO
    • National Institute of Standard and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Lynden Shalm

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Martin Stevens

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Thomas Gerrits

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Scott Glancy

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Michael Allman

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Kevin Coakley

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Shellee Dyer

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Carson Hodge

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Adriana Lita

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Varun Verma

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Richard Mirin

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Emanuel Knill

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO

  • Sae Woo Nam

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO