Alain Aspect’s experiments on Bell’s theorem: a turning point in the history of the research on the foundations of quantum mechanics

Abstract

Alain Aspect’s three experiments on Bell’s theorem, published in the early 1980s, were a turning point in the history of the research on the foundations of quantum mechanics not only because they corroborated entanglement as the distinctive quantum signature but also because these experiments brought wider recognition to this field of research and Aspect himself. These experiments may be considered the most direct precursors of the research on quantum information, which would blossom a decade later. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] John Bell (1928–1990)—on the board, drawing of Aspect’s 1982 experiment with two-channel polarizers. Courtesy: Nature.