Indefinite causal order in a quantum switch

K. Goswami, C. Giarmatzi, M. Kewming, F. Costa, C. Branciard, J. Romero, A. G. White

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

173 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Quantum mechanics allows events to happen with no definite causal order: this can be verified by measuring a causal witness, in the same way that an entanglement witness verifies entanglement. Here, we realize a photonic quantum switch, where two operations A^ and B^ act in a quantum superposition of their two possible orders. The operations are on the transverse spatial mode of the photons; polarization coherently controls their order. Our implementation ensures that the operations cannot be distinguished by spatial or temporal position - further it allows qudit encoding in the target. We confirm our quantum switch has no definite causal order by constructing a causal witness and measuring its value to be 18 standard deviations beyond the definite-order bound.

Original languageEnglish
Article number090503
Pages (from-to)090503-1-090503-5
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume121
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2018
Externally publishedYes

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