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Experimental Tests of Realistic Local Theories via Bell's Theorem

Alain Aspect, Philippe Grangier, and Gérard Roger
Phys. Rev. Lett. 47, 460 – Published 17 August 1981
An article within the collection: The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light and the Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective
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Abstract

We have measured the linear polarization correlation of the photons emitted in a radiative atomic cascade of calcium. A high-efficiency source provided an improved statistical accuracy and an ability to perform new tests. Our results, in excellent agreement with the quantum mechanical predictions, strongly violate the generalized Bell's inequalities, and rule out the whole class of realistic local theories. No significant change in results was observed with source-polarizer separations of up to 6.5 m.

  • Received 30 March 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.47.460

©1981 American Physical Society

Collections

This article appears in the following collections:

The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light

The editors of the Physical Review journals revisit papers that represent important breakthroughs in the field of optics.

Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective

2008 marked PRL’s 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations a collection of milestone Letters was started. The collection contains Letters that have made long-lived contributions to physics, either by announcing significant discoveries, or by initiating new areas of research.

Authors & Affiliations

Alain Aspect, Philippe Grangier, and Gérard Roger

  • Institut d'Optique Théorique et Appliquée, Université Paris-Sud, F-91406 Orsay, France

References

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Issue

Vol. 47, Iss. 7 — 17 August 1981

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