Single-electron entanglement and nonlocality

David Dasenbrook, Joseph Bowles, Jonatan Bohr Brask, Patrick P. Hofer, Christian Flindt, Nicolas Brunner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Motivated by recent progress in electron quantum optics, we revisit the question of single-electron entanglement, specifically whether the state of a single electron in a superposition of two separate spatial modes should be considered entangled. We first discuss a gedanken experiment with single-electron sources and detectors, and demonstrate deterministic (i. e. without post-selection) Bell inequality violation. This implies that the single-electron state is indeed entangled and, furthermore, nonlocal. We then present an experimental scheme where single-electron entanglement can be observed via measurements of the average currents and zero-frequency current cross-correlators in an electronic Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometer driven by Lorentzian voltage pulses. We show that single-electron entanglement is detectable under realistic operating conditions. Our work settles the question of single-electron entanglement and opens promising perspectives for future experiments.

Original languageEnglish
Article number043036
JournalNew Journal of Physics
Volume18
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016 Apr 1
Externally publishedYes

Free keywords

  • electronic interferometer
  • entanglement
  • nonlocality
  • quantum transport
  • single-electron source

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