Experimental Test of Local Hidden-Variable Theories

Abstract

We have measured the linear polarization correlation between the two photons from the $7^{3}S_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}6^{3}P_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}6^{1}S_{0}$ cascade of ${\mathrm{Hg}}^{200}$. The results were used to evaluate Freedman's version of the Bell inequality, $\ensuremath{\delta}<~0$. Our result is ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{\mathrm{exp}}=+0.046\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.014$, in clear violation of the inequality and in excellent agreement with the quantum mechanical prediction, ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{\mathrm{QM}}=+0.044\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.007$. An important feature of the experiment was the explicit measurement of the initial density matrix for the cascading atoms.