Photon bunching in a rotating reference frame
Photon bunching in a rotating reference frame
Although quantum physics is well understood in inertial reference frames (flat spacetime), a current challenge is the search for experimental evidence of nontrivial or unexpected behavior of quantum systems in noninertial frames. Here, we present a novel test of quantum mechanics in a noninertial reference frame: we consider Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference on a rotating platform and study the effect of uniform rotation on the distinguishability of the photons. Both theory and experiments show that the rotational motion induces a relative delay in the photon arrival times at the exit beam splitter and that this delay is observed as a shift in the position of the HOM dip. This experiment can be extended to a full general relativistic test of quantum physics using satellites in Earth’s orbit and indicates a new route toward the use of photonic technologies for investigating quantum mechanics at the interface with relativity.
Restuccia, Sara
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Toros, Marko
bd02c9f1-e498-474e-a98d-5b9882874915
Gibson, Graham M.
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Ulbricht, Hendrik
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Faccio, Daniele
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Padgett, Miles J.
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Restuccia, Sara
497aa162-6c22-41e3-b935-8fa97444ae10
Toros, Marko
bd02c9f1-e498-474e-a98d-5b9882874915
Gibson, Graham M.
95ca7856-a643-4fa4-9b25-8b34170fc7f8
Ulbricht, Hendrik
5060dd43-2dc1-47f8-9339-c1a26719527d
Faccio, Daniele
4bc95171-0d90-4392-8333-528cbcb80e84
Padgett, Miles J.
1d3c83cc-af4d-4ca6-9325-93e7e995ba89
Restuccia, Sara, Toros, Marko, Gibson, Graham M., Ulbricht, Hendrik, Faccio, Daniele and Padgett, Miles J.
(2019)
Photon bunching in a rotating reference frame.
Physical Review Letters, 123 (11), [110401].
(doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.110401).
Abstract
Although quantum physics is well understood in inertial reference frames (flat spacetime), a current challenge is the search for experimental evidence of nontrivial or unexpected behavior of quantum systems in noninertial frames. Here, we present a novel test of quantum mechanics in a noninertial reference frame: we consider Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference on a rotating platform and study the effect of uniform rotation on the distinguishability of the photons. Both theory and experiments show that the rotational motion induces a relative delay in the photon arrival times at the exit beam splitter and that this delay is observed as a shift in the position of the HOM dip. This experiment can be extended to a full general relativistic test of quantum physics using satellites in Earth’s orbit and indicates a new route toward the use of photonic technologies for investigating quantum mechanics at the interface with relativity.
Text
Photon bunching in a rotating reference frame
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 8 June 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 September 2019
Additional Information:
arXiv copy is AM
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 433000
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433000
ISSN: 1079-7114
PURE UUID: 90c24dc2-4088-43ea-9db4-44bf4d6b36c3
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Date deposited: 06 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:04
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Contributors
Author:
Sara Restuccia
Author:
Marko Toros
Author:
Graham M. Gibson
Author:
Daniele Faccio
Author:
Miles J. Padgett
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