At what level of energy does a classical experiment become quantum mechanical? Where does classical electromagnetic theory apply and where do we have to turn to quantum optics? Is there a sharp line between these two models? And if so: why, and why at this level? Or if not: what are the common features of the formalisms, and what are the di erences? With our upcoming experimental work, we hope to be able to gain some insight into these challenging questions. The starting point is an investigation of the results from an ordinary Bell type experiment showing entanglement between two photons, where the photons has been generated using spontaneous parametric down conversion, and the same experiment but with a classical source where two highly attenuated pulses are combined. Here we will present in detail our planned experiment.

Date Published: 1 October 2013
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 8832, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? V, 88321I (1 October 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2023952

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8832:
The Nature of Light: What are Photons? V
Chandrasekhar Roychoudhuri; Al F. Kracklauer; Hans De Raedt, Editor(s)