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Guillaume Adenier

Publications and source records attributed to Guillaume Adenier.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Frequency and phase relations of entangled photons observed by a two-photon interference experiment

An entangled photon experiment has been performed with a large variation of the temperature of the non-linear crystal generating the entangled pair by spontaneous downconversion. The photon pairs are separated by a nonpolarizing beamsplitter, and the polarization modes are mixed by half wave plates. The correlation function of the coincidences is studied as a function of the temperature. In the presence of a narrow interference filter we observe that the correlation changes between -1 and +1 about seven times within a temperature interval of about 30 degrees C. We show that the common simplified single-mode pair representation of entangled photons is insufficient to describe the results, but that the biphoton description that includes frequency and phase details gives close to perfect fit with experimental data for two different choices of interference filters. We explain the main ideas of the underlying physics, and give an interpretation of the two-photon amplitude which provides an intuitive understanding of the effect of changing the temperature and inserting interference filters.

quant-ph

Test of the no-signaling principle in the Hensen "loophole-free CHSH experiment"

We analyze the data from the loophole-free CHSH experiment performed by Hensen et al., and show that it is actually not exempt of an important loophole. By increasing the size of the sample of event-ready detections, one can exhibit in the experimental data a violation of the no-signaling principle with a statistical significance at least similar to that of the reported violation of the CHSH inequality, if not stronger.

quant-ph

Observation of bosonic coalescence and fermionic anti-coalescence with indistinguishable photons

The symmetrization postulate asserts that the state of particular species of particles can only be of one permutation symmetry type: symmetric for bosons and antisymmetric for fermions. We report some experimental results showing that pairs of photons indistinguishable by all degrees of freedom can exhibit not only a bosonic behavior, as expected for photons, but also a surprisingly sharp fermionic behavior under specific conditions.

quant-ph

Double blinding-attack on entanglement-based quantum key distribution protocols

We propose a double blinding-attack on entangled-based quantum key distribution protocols. The principle of the attack is the same as in existing blinding attack except that instead of blinding the detectors on one side only, Eve is blinding the detectors of both Alice and Bob. In the BBM92 protocol, the attack allows Eve to get a full knowledge of the key and remain undetected even if Alice and Bob are using 100% efficient detectors. The attack can be easily extended to Ekert protocol, with an efficiency as high as 85.3%.

quant-ph

Multiple-Photon Absorption Attack on Entanglement-Based Quantum Key Distribution Protocols

In elaborating on the multiple-photon absorption attack on Ekert protocol proposed in arXiv:1011.4740, we show that it can be used in other entanglement-based protocols, in particular the BBM92 protocol. In this attack, the eavesdropper (Eve) is assumed to be in control of the source, and she sends pulses correlated in polarization (but not entangled) containing several photons at frequencies for which only multiple-photon absorptions are possible in Alice's and Bob's detectors. Whenever the photons stemming from one pulse are dispatched in such a way that the number of photons is insufficient to trigger a multiple-photon absorption in either channel, the pulse remains undetected. We show that this simple feature is enough to reproduce the type of statistics on the detected pulses that are considered as indicating a secure quantum key distribution, even though the source is actually a mixture of separable states. The violation of Bell inequalities measured by Alice and Bob increases with the order of the multiple-photon absorption that Eve can drive into their detectors, while the measured quantum bit error rate decreases as a function of the same variable. We show that the attack can be successful even in the simplest case of a two-photon absorption or three-photon absorption attack, and we discuss possible countermeasures, in particular the use of a fair sampling test.

quant-ph

Violation of Bell Inequalities with a Mixture of Separable States in a Multiple-Photon Absorption Attack on Ekert Protocol

We propose a new type of attack on Ekert protocol in which, rather surprisingly, Eve drives a violation of Bell inequalities in Alice's and Bob's detectors with a mixture of separable states. She does so by sending correlated pulses containing several photons at frequencies where only multiple-photon absorptions are possible in their detectors. Whenever the photons stemming from a same pulse are dispatched in such a way that the number of photons is insufficient to trigger a multiple-photon absorption in either channel, the pulse remains undetected. We show that this simple feature leads to violations of Bell inequalities that can match closely those predicted for entangled states, even in the simplest cases of two-photon and three-photon absorptions.

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A Fair Sampling Test for Ekert Protocol

We propose a local scheme to enhance the security of quantum key distribution in Ekert protocol (E91). Our proposal is a fair sampling test meant to detect an eavesdropping attempt that would use a biased sample to mimic an apparent violation of Bell inequalities. The test is local and non disruptive: it can be unilaterally performed at any time by either Alice or Bob during the production of the key, and together with the Bell inequality test.

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Violation of Bell Inequalities as a Violation of Fair Sampling in Threshold Detectors

Photomultiplier tubes and avalanche photodiodes, which are commonly used in quantum optic experiments, are sometimes referred to as threshold detectors because, in photon counting mode, they cannot discriminate the number of photoelectrons initially extracted from the absorber in the detector. We argue that they can be called threshold detectors on more account than that. We point out that their their functioning principle relies on two thresholds that are usually thought unimportant individually in the context of EPR-Bell discussion. We show how the combined effect of these threshold can lead to a significant sampling selection bias in the detection of pairs of pulses, resulting in an apparent violation of Bell inequalities.

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Quantum entanglement, fair sampling, and reality: Is the moon there when nobody looks?

In 1981, David Mermin described a cleverly simplified version of Bell's theorem. It pointed out in a straightforward way that interpreting entanglement from a local realist point of view can be problematic. I propose here an extended version of Mermin's device that can actually be given a simple local realist interpretation through a sample selection bias, and I argue that we still have no scientific reason to believe that the moon could possibly not be there when nobody looks.

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Is the Fair Sampling Assumption supported by EPR Experiments?

We analyze optical EPR experimental data performed by Weihs et al in Innsbruck 1997-1998. We show that for some linear combinations of the raw coincidence rates, the experimental results display some anomalous behavior that a more general source state (like non-maximally entangled state) cannot straightforwardly account for. We attempt to explain these anomalies by taking account of the relative efficiencies of the four channels. For this purpose, we use the fair sampling assumption, and assume explicitly that the detection efficiencies for the pairs of entangled photons can be written as a product of the two corresponding detection efficiencies for the single photons. We show that this explicit use of fair sampling cannot be maintained to be a reasonable assumption as it leads to an apparent violation of the no-signalling principle.

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Anomalies in experimental data for the EPR-Bohm experiment: Are both classical and quantum mechanics wrong?

We analyze anomalies in data to test the violation of Bell's inequality for the EPR-Bohm experiment. We found that the experimental correlations for photon polarization have an intriguing property. In the experimental data there are visible non-negligible deviations of probabilities $P_{++}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β), P_{+-}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β), P_{-+}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β), P_{--}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β) $ from the predictions of quantum mechanics, namely, $P_{++}(α, β)=P_{--}(α, β)= {1/2}\cos^2(α-β)$ and $P_{+-}=P_{-+}(α, β)={1/2}\sin^2(α-β).$ However, in some mysterious way those deviations compensate each other and finally the correlation $E^{\rm{exp}}(α, β)= P_{++}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β)- P_{+-}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β)- P_{-+}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β)+ P_{--}^{\rm{exp}}(α, β)$ is in the complete agreement with the QM-prediction, namely, $E(α, β)= P_{++}(α, β)- P_{+-}(α, β)- P_{-+}(α, β)+ P_{--}(α, β)= \cos 2(α-β).$ Therefore such anomalies play no role in the Bell's inequality framework. Nevertheless, other linear combinations of experimental probabilities do not have such a compensation property. There can be found non-negligible deviations from predictions of quantum mechanics. Thus neither classical nor quantum model can pass the whole family of statistical tests given by all possible linear combinations of the EPR-Bohm probabilities. Does it mean that both models are wrong?

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Local computer model emulating the results of the Pan et al. experiment

It is a widespread current belief that objective local models can not explain the quantum optics experiment of Pan et al. By presenting a model that operates on independent computers, we show that this belief is unfounded. Three remote computers (Alice, Bob and Claire), that never communicate with each other, send measurement results to a fourth computer that is in charge of collecting the data and computing correlations. The result obtained by our local simulation is in better agreement with the ideal quantum result than the Pan et al. experiment. We also show that the local model presented by Pan et al. that can not explain the quantum results contains inappropriate reasoning with profound consequences for the possible results of any local model that uses probability theory.

quant-ph

Testing the Fair Sampling Assumption for EPR-Bell Experiments with Polarizer Beamsplitters

In spite of many attempts, no local realistic model seems to be able to reproduce EPR-Bell type correlations, unless non ideal detection is allowed. The low efficiency of detectors in all experiments with photons makes the use of the fair sampling assumption unavoidable. However, since this very assumption is false in all existing local realistic models based on inefficient detection, we thus question its validity. We show that it is no more reasonable to assume fair sampling than it is impossible to test, and we actually propose an experimental test which would provides clear cut results in case of unfair sampling.

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Representation of Joint Measurement in Quantum Mechanics. A Refutation of Quantum Teleportation

An inconsistency is pointed out within Quantum Mechanics as soon as successive joint measurements are involved on entangled states. The resolution of the inconsistency leads to a refutation of the use of entangled states as eigenvectors. Hence, the concept of quantum teleportation, which is based on the use of such entangled states--the Bell states--as eigenvectors, is demonstrated to be irrelevant to Quantum Mechanics.

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A Refutation of Bell's Theorem

Bell's Theorem was developed on the basis of considerations involving a linear combination of spin correlation functions, each of which has a distinct pair of arguments. The simultaneous presence of these different pairs of arguments in the same equation can be understood in two radically different ways: either as `strongly objective,' that is, all correlation functions pertain to the same set of particle pairs, or as `weakly objective,' that is, each correlation function pertains to a different set of particle pairs. It is demonstrated that once this meaning is determined, no discrepancy appears between local realistic theories and quantum mechanics: the discrepancy in Bell's Theorem is due only to a meaningless comparison between a local realistic inequality written within the strongly objective interpretation (thus relevant to a single set of particle pairs) and a quantum mechanical prediction derived from a weakly objective interpretation (thus relevant to several different sets of particle pairs).

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