Publications

A long range coherent OFDR is demonstrated by using a standard DFB laser diode coupled to an all fiber external double cavity. The optical frequency sweep was obtained by runing the phase of the feedback light. The laser linewidth reduction, tunability and mode hopping are also discussed.

General wisdom tells us that if two quantum states are ``macroscopically distinguishable'' then their superposition should be hard to observe. We make this intuition precise and general by quantifying the difficulty to observe the quantum nature of a superposition of two states that can be distinguished without microscopic accuracy. First, we quantify the distinguishability of any given pair of quantum states with measurement devices lacking microscopic accuracy, i.e. measurements suffering from limited resolution or limited sensitivity. Next, we quantify the required stability that have to be fulfilled by any measurement setup able to distinguish their superposition from a mere mixture. Finally, by establishing a relationship between the stability requirement and the ``macroscopic distinguishability'' of the two superposed states, we demonstrate that indeed, the more distinguishable the states are, the more demanding are the stability requirements.

An experimental setup is presented which permits, in a routine way for R&D purposes, simultaneous measurement of the transmitted near field at 1300 nm and 1550 nm, and the refracted near field at 820 nm. A new method for the calibration of the refractive index is proposed. The obtained accuracy for the refractive index is dn+or-0.0002. The reproducibility of measurements of geometrical parameters like the mode field diameter, the core and cladding diameters, and concentricity error, is +or-0.1 mu m. Measurements of the mode field as a function of polarization state for four different hi-bi fiber are presented.

The problem of characterizing classical and quantum correlations in networks is considered. Contrary to the usual Bell scenario, where distant observers share a physical system emitted by one common source, a network features several independent sources, each distributing a physical system to a subset of observers. In the quantum setting, the observers can perform joint measurements on initially independent systems, which may lead to strong correlations across the whole network. In this work, we introduce a technique to systematically map a Bell inequality to a family of Bell-type inequalities bounding classical correlations on networks in a star-configuration. Also, we show that whenever a given Bell inequality can be violated by some entangled state $\rho$, then all the corresponding network inequalities can be violated by considering many copies of $\rho$ distributed in the star network. The relevance of these ideas is illustrated by applying our method to a specific multi-setting Bell inequality. We derive the corresponding network inequalities, and study their quantum violations.

I argue that scientific determinism is not supported by facts, but results from the elegance of the mathematical language physicists use, in particular from the so-called real numbers and their infinite series of digits. Classical physics can thus be interpreted in a deterministic or indeterministic way. However, using quantum physics, some experiments prove that nature is able to continually produce new information, hence support indeterminism in physics.

No abstract is provided for this article.

For science to make sense, free will and a flowing time must both exist, argues physicist Nicolas Gisin

Nonlocal boxes are conceptual tools that capture the essence of the phenomenon of quantum non-locality, central to modern quantum theory and quantum technologies. We introduce network nonlocal boxes tailored for quantum networks under the natural assumption that these networks connect independent sources and do not allow signaling. Hence, these boxes satisfy the No-Signaling and Independence (NSI) principle. For the case of boxes without inputs, connecting pairs of bipartite sources and producing binary outputs, we prove that the sources and boxes producing local random outputs and maximal 2-box correlations, i.e. $E_2=\sqrt{2}-1$, $E_2^o=1$, are essentially unique.

Quantum communication Quantum Communication is the art of transferring a quantum state from one location, Alice, to a distant one, Bob. Ultimately, information is carried by the physical state of some quantum systems

Since our early childhood we know in our bones that in order to interact with an object we have either to go to it or to throw something at it. Yet, contrary to all our daily experience, Nature is nonlocal: there are spatially separated systems that exhibit nonlocal correlations. In recent years this led to new experiments, deeper understanding of the tension between quantum physics and relativity and to proposals for disruptive technologies.

The study of nonlocality in scenarios that depart from the bipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen setup is allowing one to uncover many fundamental features of quantum mechanics. Recently, an approach to building network-local models based on machine learning led to the conjecture that the family of quantum triangle distributions of [Renou et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 140401 (2019)] did not admit triangle-local models in a larger range than the original proof. We prove part of this conjecture in the affirmative. Our approach consists of reducing the family of original, four-outcome distributions to families of binary-outcome ones, and then using the inflation technique to prove that these families of binary-outcome distributions do not admit triangle-local models. This constitutes the first successful use of inflation in a proof of quantum nonlocality in networks for distributions whose nonlocality could not be proved with alternative methods. Moreover, we provide a method to extend proofs of network nonlocality in concrete distributions of a parametrized family to continuous ranges of the parameter. In the process, we produce a large collection of network Bell inequalities for the triangle scenario with binary outcomes, which are of independent interest.Received 9 April 2022Revised 13 October 2022Accepted 18 January 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.090201© 2023 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasNonlocalityQuantum correlations in quantum informationQuantum information theoryQuantum networksQuantum Information, Science & TechnologyNetworks

The polarization coupling length, an important parameter of the PMD probability distribution, is obtained from measurements and modeling of the nonlinear polarization rotation in optical fibers. Results for different types of fibers are presented.

We propose a distinction between two different concepts of time that play a role in physics: geometric time and creative time. The former is the time of deterministic physics and merely parametrizes a given evolution. The latter is instead characterized by real change, i.e. novel information that gets created when a non-necessary event becomes determined in a fundamentally indeterministic physics. This allows us to give a naturalistic characterization of the present as the moment that separates the potential future from the determined past. We discuss how these two concepts find natural applications in classical and intuitionistic mathematics, respectively, and in classical and multivalued tensed logic, as well as how they relate to the well-known A- and B-theories in the philosophy of time.