Exploring Quantum Foundations with Single Photons

Exploring Quantum Foundations with Single Photons PDF

Author: Martin Ringbauer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-08-21

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 3319649884

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This thesis uses high-precision single-photon experiments to shed new light on the role of reality, causality, and uncertainty in quantum mechanics. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the current understanding of quantum foundations and details three influential experiments that significantly advance our understanding of three core aspects of this problem. The first experiment demonstrates that the quantum wavefunction is part of objective reality, if there is any such reality in our world. The second experiment shows that quantum correlations cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect, even when considering superluminal influences between measurement outcomes. The final experiment in this thesis demonstrates a novel uncertainty relation for joint quantum measurements, where the textbook relation does not apply.

On Graph Approaches to Contextuality and their Role in Quantum Theory

On Graph Approaches to Contextuality and their Role in Quantum Theory PDF

Author: Barbara Amaral

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-07-28

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 3319938274

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book explores two of the most striking features of quantum theory – contextuality and nonlocality – using a formulation based on graph theory. Quantum theory provides a set of rules to predict probabilities of different outcomes in different experimental settings, and both contextuality and nonlocality play a fundamental role in interpreting the outcomes. In this work, the authors highlight how the graph approach can lead to a better understanding of this theory and its applications. After presenting basic definitions and explaining the non-contextuality hypothesis, the book describes contextuality scenarios using compatibility hypergraphs. It then introduces the exclusivity graph approach, which relates a number of important graph-theoretical concepts to contextuality. It also presents open problems such as the so-called Exclusivity Principle, as well as a selection of important topics, like sheaf-theoretical approach, hypergraph approach, and alternative proofs of contextuality.

Exploring the Quantum

Exploring the Quantum PDF

Author: Serge Haroche

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2006-08-11

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13: 0191523240

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The counter-intuitive aspects of quantum physics have been long illustrated by thought experiments, from Einstein's photon box to Schrödinger's cat. These experiments have now become real, with single particles - electrons, atoms, or photons - directly unveiling the strange features of the quantum. State superpositions, entanglement and complementarity define a novel quantum logic which can be harnessed for information processing, raising great hopes for applications. This book describes a class of such thought experiments made real. Juggling with atoms and photons confined in cavities, ions or cold atoms in traps, is here an incentive to shed a new light on the basic concepts of quantum physics. Measurement processes and decoherence at the quantum-classical boundary are highlighted. This volume, which combines theory and experiments, will be of interest to students in quantum physics, teachers seeking illustrations for their lectures and new problem sets, researchers in quantum optics and quantum information.

An Introduction to Quantum Optics

An Introduction to Quantum Optics PDF

Author: Yanhua Shih

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-12-07

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 042989306X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Authored by a highly regarded international researcher and pioneer in the field, An Introduction to Quantum Optics: Photon and Biphoton Physics is a straightforward overview of basic principles and experimental evidence for the quantum theory of light. This book introduces and analyzes some of the most exciting experimental research to date in the field of quantum optics and quantum information, helping readers understand the revolutionary changes occurring in optical science. Paints a picture of light in terms of general quantum interference, to reflect the physical truth behind all optical observations Unlike most traditional books on the subject, this one introduces fundamental classical and quantum concepts and measurement techniques naturally and gradually as it explores the process of analyzing typical experimental observations. Separating itself from other books with this uncommon focus on the experimental part of analysis, this volume: Provides a general overview of the optical coherence of light without quantization Introduces concepts and tools of field quantization and quantum optics based on the principles and rules of quantum mechanics Analyzes similarities and differences between classical and quantum coherence Concentrates on key research topics in quantum optics Explains photon and biphoton physics by examining the devices and experimental procedures used to test theories This book is basic enough for students, but it also covers a broad range of higher-level concepts that will benefit scientists and other professionals seeking to enhance their understanding of practical and theoretical aspects and new experimental methods of measurement. This material summarizes exciting developments and observations and then helps readers of all levels apply presented concepts and tools to summarize, analyze, and resolve quantum optical problems in their own work. It is a great aid to improve methods of discovering new physics and better understand and apply nontraditional concepts and interpretations in both new and historical experimental discoveries.

Photons

Photons PDF

Author: Klaus Hentschel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-16

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 3319952528

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book focuses on the gradual formation of the concept of ‘light quanta’ or ‘photons’, as they have usually been called in English since 1926. The great number of synonyms that have been used by physicists to denote this concept indicates that there are many different mental models of what ‘light quanta’ are: simply finite, ‘quantized packages of energy’ or ‘bullets of light’? ‘Atoms of light’ or ‘molecules of light’? ‘Light corpuscles’ or ‘quantized waves’? Singularities of the field or spatially extended structures able to interfere? ‘Photons’ in G.N. Lewis’s sense, or as defined by QED, i.e. virtual exchange particles transmitting the electromagnetic force? The term ‘light quantum’ made its first appearance in Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper on a “heuristic point of view” to cope with the photoelectric effect and other forms of interaction of light and matter, but the mental model associated with it has a rich history both before and after 1905. Some of its semantic layers go as far back as Newton and Kepler, some are only fully expressed several decades later, while others initially increased in importance then diminished and finally vanished. In conjunction with these various terms, several mental models of light quanta were developed—six of them are explored more closely in this book. It discusses two historiographic approaches to the problem of concept formation: (a) the author’s own model of conceptual development as a series of semantic accretions and (b) Mark Turner’s model of ‘conceptual blending’. Both of these models are shown to be useful and should be explored further. This is the first historiographically sophisticated history of the fully fledged concept and all of its twelve semantic layers. It systematically combines the history of science with the history of terms and a philosophically inspired history of ideas in conjunction with insights from cognitive science.

The Quantum World

The Quantum World PDF

Author: New Scientist

Publisher: Nicholas Brealey

Published: 2017-05-16

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 185788969X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Just how real is reality, anyway? Forget everything you thought you knew about reality. The world is a seriously bizarre place. Things can exist in two places at once and travel backwards and forwards in time. Waves and particles are one and the same, and objects change their behavior according to whether they are being watched. This is not some alternative universe but the realm of the very small, where quantum mechanics rules. In this weird world of atoms and their constituents, our common sense understanding of reality breaks down - yet quantum mechanics has never failed an experimental test. What does it all mean? For all its weirdness, quantum mechanics has given us many practical technologies including lasers and the transistors that underlie computers and all digital technology. In the future, it promises computers more powerful than any built before, the ability to communicate with absolute privacy, and even quantum teleportation. The Quantum World explores the past, present and future of quantum science, its applications and mind-bending implications. Discover how ideas from quantum mechanics are percolating out into the vast scale of the cosmos - perhaps, in the future, to reveal a new understanding of the big bang and the nature of space and time. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Quantum Entanglement of Complex Structures of Photons

Quantum Entanglement of Complex Structures of Photons PDF

Author: Robert Fickler

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-09-08

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 3319222317

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This thesis casts new light on quantum entanglement of photons with complex spatial patterns due to direct coincidence imaging. It demonstrates novel methods to generate, investigate, and verify entanglement of complex spatial structures. Quantum theory is one of the most successful and astonishing physical theories. It made possible various technical devices like lasers or mobile phones and, at the same time, it completely changed our understanding of the world. Interestingly, such counterintuitive features like entanglement are an important building block for future quantum technologies. In photonic experiments, the transverse spatial degree of freedom offers great potential to explore fascinating phenomena of single photons and quantum entanglement. It was possible to verify the entanglement of two photons with very high quanta of orbital angular momentum, a property of photons connected to their spatial structure and theoretically unbounded. In addition, modern imaging technology was used to visualize the effect of entanglement even in real-time and to show a surprising property: photons with complex spatial patterns can be both entangled and not entangled in polarization depending on their transverse spatial position.