Nonlocal control of dissipation with entangled photons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates nonlocal control of light absorption in a plasmonic structure using polarization-entangled photons, enabling remote manipulation of energy dissipation with potential quantum information applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to remotely control absorption in a plasmonic device using entangled photons, showcasing a novel quantum nonlocality application in nanophotonics.

Findings

Remote control of photon absorption demonstrated

Entangled photons enable nonlocal energy dissipation control

Potential for quantum gating and entanglement manipulation

Abstract

Quantum nonlocality, i.e. the presence of strong correlations in spatially seperated systems which are forbidden by local realism, lies at the heart of quantum communications and quantum computing. Here, we use polarization-entangled photon pairs to demonstrate a nonlocal control of absorption of light in a plasmonic structure. Through the detection of one photon with a polarization-sensitive device, we can almost deterministically prevent or allow absorption of a second, remotely located photon. We demonstrate this with pairs of photons, one of which is absorbed by coupling into a plasmon of a thin metamaterial absorber in the path of a standing wave of an interferometer. Thus, energy dissipation of specific polarization states on a heat-sink is remotely controlled, promising opportunities for probabilistic quantum gating and controlling plasmon-photon conversion and entanglement.