Photon Bunching in a Rotating Reference Frame
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.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- September 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.110401
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1906.03400
- Bibcode:
- 2019PhRvL.123k0401R
- Keywords:
-
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 110401 (2019)