Temporal Quantum Correlations in Inelastic Light Scattering from Water

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Dec 9;117(24):243603. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.243603. Epub 2016 Dec 7.

Abstract

Water is one of the most prevalent chemicals on our planet, an integral part of both our environment and our existence as a species. Yet it is also rich in anomalous behaviors. Here we reveal that water is a novel-yet ubiquitous-source for quantum correlated photon pairs at ambient conditions. The photon pairs are produced through Raman scattering, and the correlations arise from the shared quantum of a vibrational mode between the Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering events. We confirm the nonclassical nature of the produced photon pairs by showing that the cross-correlation and autocorrelations of the signals violate a Cauchy-Schwarz inequality by over 5 orders of magnitude. The unprecedented degree of violating the inequality in pure water, as well as the well-defined polarization properties of the photon pairs, points to its usefulness in quantum information.