Wave-particle duality is the most fundamental description of the nature of a quantum object, which behaves like a classical particle or wave depending on the measurement apparatus. On the other hand, entanglement represents nonclassical correlations of composite quantum systems, being also a key resource in quantum information. Despite the very recent observations of wave-particle superposition and entanglement, whether these two fundamental traits of quantum mechanics can emerge simultaneously remains an open issue. Here we introduce and experimentally realize a scheme that deterministically generates entanglement between the wave and particle states of two photons. The elementary tool allowing this achievement is a scalable single-photon setup which can be in principle extended to generate multiphoton wave-particle entanglement. Our study reveals that photons can be entangled in their dual wave-particle behavior and opens the way to potential applications in quantum information protocols exploiting the wave-particle degrees of freedom to encode qubits.

Rab, A., Polino, E., Man, Z., Ba An, N., Xia, Y., Spagnolo, N., et al. (2017). Entanglement of photons in their dual wave-particle nature. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 8(1) [10.1038/s41467-017-01058-6].

Entanglement of photons in their dual wave-particle nature

LO FRANCO, Rosario
;
2017-01-01

Abstract

Wave-particle duality is the most fundamental description of the nature of a quantum object, which behaves like a classical particle or wave depending on the measurement apparatus. On the other hand, entanglement represents nonclassical correlations of composite quantum systems, being also a key resource in quantum information. Despite the very recent observations of wave-particle superposition and entanglement, whether these two fundamental traits of quantum mechanics can emerge simultaneously remains an open issue. Here we introduce and experimentally realize a scheme that deterministically generates entanglement between the wave and particle states of two photons. The elementary tool allowing this achievement is a scalable single-photon setup which can be in principle extended to generate multiphoton wave-particle entanglement. Our study reveals that photons can be entangled in their dual wave-particle behavior and opens the way to potential applications in quantum information protocols exploiting the wave-particle degrees of freedom to encode qubits.
2017
Settore FIS/02 - Fisica Teorica, Modelli E Metodi Matematici
Settore FIS/03 - Fisica Della Materia
Rab, A., Polino, E., Man, Z., Ba An, N., Xia, Y., Spagnolo, N., et al. (2017). Entanglement of photons in their dual wave-particle nature. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 8(1) [10.1038/s41467-017-01058-6].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/244136
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