Researchers have closed the last major loophole in Bell tests for quantum entanglement using ultra-sensitive photon detectors developed by NIST scientists. The fair-sampling loophole, which questioned whether detected photons were a statistically fair sample of all photons, has been eliminated by using improved photon sources and highly efficient detectors.
The experiment, conducted in Austria, confirmed quantum entanglement to nearly 70 standard deviations using NIST’s superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors. These detectors are crucial for high-accuracy experiments because they have no intrinsic dark counts and are highly efficient.
The work represents a major milestone in experimental confirmation of quantum mechanics principles and demonstrates the importance of NIST’s advanced photon detection technology for cutting-edge quantum research.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2013/06/closing-last-bell-test-loophole-photons
Keywords: entanglement, photon detectors, quantum mechanics, local realism, single-photon detectors
