Direct Measurement of Superluminal Group Velocity and Signal Velocity in an Optical Fiber

Nicolas Brunner, Valerio Scarani, Mark Wegmüller, Matthieu Legré, and Nicolas Gisin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 203902 – Published 11 November 2004

Abstract

We present an easy way of observing superluminal group velocities using a birefringent optical fiber and other standard devices. In the theoretical analysis, we show that the optical properties of the setup can be described using the notion of “weak value.” The experiment shows that the group velocity can indeed exceed c in the fiber; and we report the first direct observation of the so-called “signal velocity,” the speed at which information propagates and that cannot exceed c.

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  • Received 21 July 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.203902

©2004 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Nicolas Brunner, Valerio Scarani, Mark Wegmüller, Matthieu Legré, and Nicolas Gisin

  • Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, 20 rue de l’Ecole-de-Médecine, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 20 — 12 November 2004

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