Unveiling contextual realities by microscopically entangling a neutron
Abstract
AbstractThe development of qualitatively new measurement capabilities is often a prerequisite for critical scientific and technological advances. Here we introduce an unconventional quantum probe, an entangled neutron beam, where individual neutrons can be entangled in spin, trajectory and energy. The spatial separation of trajectories from nanometers to microns and energy differences from peV to neV will enable investigations of microscopic magnetic correlations in systems with strongly entangled phases, such as those believed to emerge in unconventional superconductors. We develop an interferometer to prove entanglement of these distinguishable properties of the neutron beam by observing clear violations of both Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt and Mermin contextuality inequalities in the same experimental setup. Our work opens a pathway to a future of entangled neutron scattering in matter.
- Authors:
-
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter, Quantum Science and Engineering Center
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter, Quantum Science and Engineering Center
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
- BonPhysics Research and Investigations (The Netherlands)
- Atominstitut, Vienna (Austria)
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, Quantum Science and Engineering Center
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter, Quantum Science and Engineering Center ; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Adelphi Technology Inc., Redwood City, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1606032
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1787368
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; SC0017127
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; entangled neutron beam, entangled neutron scattering in matter
Citation Formats
Shen, J., Kuhn, S. J., Dalgliesh, R. M., de Haan, V. O., Geerits, N., Irfan, A. A. M., Li, F., Lu, S., Parnell, S. R., Plomp, J., van Well, A. A., Washington, A., Baxter, D. V., Ortiz, G., Snow, W. M., and Pynn, R. Unveiling contextual realities by microscopically entangling a neutron. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14741-y.
Shen, J., Kuhn, S. J., Dalgliesh, R. M., de Haan, V. O., Geerits, N., Irfan, A. A. M., Li, F., Lu, S., Parnell, S. R., Plomp, J., van Well, A. A., Washington, A., Baxter, D. V., Ortiz, G., Snow, W. M., & Pynn, R. Unveiling contextual realities by microscopically entangling a neutron. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14741-y
Shen, J., Kuhn, S. J., Dalgliesh, R. M., de Haan, V. O., Geerits, N., Irfan, A. A. M., Li, F., Lu, S., Parnell, S. R., Plomp, J., van Well, A. A., Washington, A., Baxter, D. V., Ortiz, G., Snow, W. M., and Pynn, R. Tue .
"Unveiling contextual realities by microscopically entangling a neutron". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14741-y. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1606032.
@article{osti_1606032,
title = {Unveiling contextual realities by microscopically entangling a neutron},
author = {Shen, J. and Kuhn, S. J. and Dalgliesh, R. M. and de Haan, V. O. and Geerits, N. and Irfan, A. A. M. and Li, F. and Lu, S. and Parnell, S. R. and Plomp, J. and van Well, A. A. and Washington, A. and Baxter, D. V. and Ortiz, G. and Snow, W. M. and Pynn, R.},
abstractNote = {AbstractThe development of qualitatively new measurement capabilities is often a prerequisite for critical scientific and technological advances. Here we introduce an unconventional quantum probe, an entangled neutron beam, where individual neutrons can be entangled in spin, trajectory and energy. The spatial separation of trajectories from nanometers to microns and energy differences from peV to neV will enable investigations of microscopic magnetic correlations in systems with strongly entangled phases, such as those believed to emerge in unconventional superconductors. We develop an interferometer to prove entanglement of these distinguishable properties of the neutron beam by observing clear violations of both Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt and Mermin contextuality inequalities in the same experimental setup. Our work opens a pathway to a future of entangled neutron scattering in matter.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-14741-y},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {2}
}
Works referenced in this record:
Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?
journal, May 1935
- Einstein, A.; Podolsky, B.; Rosen, N.
- Physical Review, Vol. 47, Issue 10
Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics
journal, January 1988
- Whitaker, M. A. B.
- Endeavour, Vol. 12, Issue 2
Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics
journal, January 1989
- Johnson, R. C.
- Endeavour, Vol. 13, Issue 1
Proposed Experiment to Test Local Hidden-Variable Theories
journal, October 1969
- Clauser, John F.; Horne, Michael A.; Shimony, Abner
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 23, Issue 15
Generation and detection of spin-orbit coupled neutron beams
journal, September 2019
- Sarenac, Dusan; Kapahi, Connor; Chen, Wangchun
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 41
Bell's theorem. Experimental tests and implications
journal, December 1978
- Clauser, J. F.; Shimony, A.
- Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 41, Issue 12
Experimental Realization of Decoherence-Free Subspace in Neutron Interferometry
journal, October 2011
- Pushin, D. A.; Huber, M. G.; Arif, M.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 15
Quantum-Enhanced Measurements: Beating the Standard Quantum Limit
journal, November 2004
- Giovannetti, V.
- Science, Vol. 306, Issue 5700
Controlling neutron orbital angular momentum
journal, September 2015
- Clark, Charles W.; Barankov, Roman; Huber, Michael G.
- Nature, Vol. 525, Issue 7570
Optimal quantum measurements of expectation values of observables
journal, January 2007
- Knill, Emanuel; Ortiz, Gerardo; Somma, Rolando D.
- Physical Review A, Vol. 75, Issue 1
A Subsystem-Independent Generalization of Entanglement
journal, March 2004
- Barnum, Howard; Knill, Emanuel; Ortiz, Gerardo
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 92, Issue 10
Extreme quantum entanglement in a superposition of macroscopically distinct states
journal, October 1990
- Mermin, N. David
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 65, Issue 15
Engineering of triply entangled states in a single-neutron system
journal, March 2010
- Hasegawa, Yuji; Loidl, Rudolf; Badurek, Gerald
- Physical Review A, Vol. 81, Issue 3
Violation of a Bell-like inequality in single-neutron interferometry
journal, September 2003
- Hasegawa, Yuji; Loidl, Rudolf; Badurek, Gerald
- Nature, Vol. 425, Issue 6953
Engineering of triply entangled states in a single-neutron system
text, January 2009
- Hasegawa, Yuji; Loidl, Rudolf; Badurek, Gerald
- arXiv
A subsystem-independent generalization of entanglement
text, January 2003
- Barnum, Howard; Knill, Emanuel; Ortiz, Gerardo
- arXiv
Quantum-enhanced measurements: beating the standard quantum limit
text, January 2004
- Giovannetti, Vittorio; Lloyd, Seth; Maccone, Lorenzo
- arXiv
Optimal Quantum Measurements of Expectation Values of Observables
text, January 2006
- Knill, Emanuel; Ortiz, Gerardo; Somma, Rolando D.
- arXiv