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Phys. Rev. A 78, 052110 (2008) [5 pages]

Possible entanglement detection with the naked eye

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Nicolas Brunner*, Cyril Branciard, and Nicolas Gisin
Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Received 6 February 2008; revised 18 September 2008; published 12 November 2008

The human eye can detect optical signals containing only a few photons. We investigate the possibility to demonstrate entanglement with such biological detectors. While one person could not detect entanglement by simply observing photons, we discuss the possibility for several observers to demonstrate entanglement in a Bell-type experiment, in which standard detectors are replaced by human eyes. Using a toy model for biological detectors that captures their main characteristic, namely, a detection threshold, we show that Bell inequalities can be violated, thus demonstrating entanglement. Remarkably, when the response function of the detector is close to a step function, quantum nonlocality can be demonstrated without any further assumptions. For smoother response functions, as for the human eye, postselection is required.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.78.052110
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.78.052110
PACS:
03.65.Ud, 03.67.Mn, 42.50.Ct, 87.19.lt

*n.brunner@bristol.ac.uk