This INSPIRE project is jointly funded by MPS/PHY/Atomic, Molecular and Optical Experimental Physics (Experimental), MPS/PHY/Molecular and Optical Physics (Theoretical), and ENG/ECCS/Electronic, Photonic and Magnetic Devices with co-funding from the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and the Office of Integrative Activities.

This project involves research on beams of light, with high potential for significant advances in fields such as telecommunication. The research to be done will include theoretical studies as well as laboratory demonstrations. The projected results include dramatic simplifications of communication techniques that can come from exploitation of the principle of "entanglement", previously not associated with macroscopic light beams. Entanglement refers to the situation in which widely separated particles cannot be described independently of each other (or, mathematically, when the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts).

The goal of the project is to demonstrate the utility of entanglement at the non-quantum level. The simple existence of non-quantum entanglement is quickly becoming accepted. Utility will come, for example, from acquiring the ability to use classically entangled macroscopic light beams for communications protocols. This will avoid the strict requirements associated with generation and management and registration of individual photons. In practice, below-threshold diode laser light will provide macroscopically entangled light beams with exactly classical (thermal Gaussian) statistics, and power meters will provide detection capability without individual photon detection. This combination has already been demonstrated in the laboratory. Desirable classical features are the ability to obtain entanglement beyond the two-party level with ordinary lab devices, as well as the existence of stochastic randomness, available in every partially polarized macroscopic light beam. A new theoretical description of three-party additive entanglement inequalities, distinct from tangle-based monogamy, has already emerged from ongoing preliminary work. Two-way beneficial exchanges with the fields of quantum information and quantum optics appear desirable and feasible, for example in implementing protocols for optical multi-mode entanglement swapping at the macroscopic level.Experimental verification will elucidate the potential benefits of this new theory in practical applications.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Physics (PHY)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1539859
Program Officer
Robert Forrey
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2015-08-01
Budget End
2020-07-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$777,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Rochester
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Rochester
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14627