Quantum optics laboratories for undergraduates

Mark Beck; Ethan Dederick

doi:10.1117/12.2070525

17 July 2014 Quantum optics laboratories for undergraduates

Mark Beck, Ethan Dederick

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Proceedings Volume 9289, 12th Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference; 92891G (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2070525
Event: 12th Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference, 2013, Porto, Portugal

Abstract

We have developed a series of undergraduate teaching laboratories that explore some of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. All of the experiments involve performing measurements on individual photons or entangled-photon pairs. The experiments include: "Proving" that light consists of photons, single-photon interference, and tests of local realism. We will describe the experiments, placing an emphasis on an experiment which measures the quantum-mechanical polarization state of a photon. This experiment explicitly demonstrates that measurements performed on one member of an entangled-photon pair effect the results of measurements of the other photon. We will also describe how we have integrated the experiments with our upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics course.

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Mark Beck and Ethan Dederick "Quantum optics laboratories for undergraduates", Proc. SPIE 9289, 12th Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference, 92891G (17 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2070525

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