Reliability of Bell-inequality measurements using polarization correlations in parametric-down-conversion photon sources

Abstract

In recent years parametric-down-conversion photon sources have been proposed and used to test local realism via Bell-type inequalities. This study shows that this technique fails to discriminate between quantum mechanics and local realism in all those tests in which polarization correlations are measured, since dichotomic observables cannot be associated satisfactorily with the state produced in these experiments. A more adequate description of these photon sources leads to an alternative inequality for Einstein locality, which is always satisfied by quantum-mechanical predictions. The result can be extended to all the experiments in which only one-half of the emitted pairs are detected.