Tests for non-randomness in quantum jumps

Abstract

In a fundamental test of quantum mechanics, we have observed 228~000 quantum jumps of a single trapped and laser cooled $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ion. This represents a statistical increase of two orders of magnitude over previous similar analyses of quantum jumps. Compared to other searches for non-randomness in quantum mechanical processes, using quantum jumps simplifies the interpretation of data by eliminated multi-particle effects and providing near-unit detection efficiency of transitions. We measure the fractional reduction in the entropy of information to be $< 6.5~10^{-4}$ when the value of any interval between quantum jumps is known. We also find that the number of runs of successively increasing or decreasing interval times agrees with the theoretically expected values. Furthermore, we analyze 238~000 quantum jumps from two simultaneously confined ions and find that the number of apparently coincidental transitions is as expected. Finally, we observe 8400 spontaneous decays of two simultaneously trapped ions and find that the number of apparently coincidental decays from the metastable state agrees with the expected value. We find no evidence for short- or long-term correlations in the intervals of the quantum jumps or in the decay of the quantum states, in agreement with quantum theory.