In this thesis, we experimentally test fundamental properties of quantum mechanics, namelynon-locality (in the form of three new families of Bell;;s inequalities) and the symmetry ofenvariance. To accomplish these we use a Sagnac source of polarization entangled photonpairs.In chapters one and two we discuss the relevant background information in quantuminformation theory, nonlinear optics, experimental realization of polarization entangledphotons and a trouble-shooting and maintenance guide for a Saganc source.In chapter three we experiment with a set of three newly derived families of Bell;;sinequalities. These three families are predicted to yield the largest volume of violation ofthe local hidden variable models (LHVM). Our experimental results are in good agreementwith those predictions and therefore, represent the largest volume of experimental violationof LHVM to date. We showed a violation of up to 30sigma from what is predicted by LHVM,and our results followed closely to the predictions of quantum mechanics.In chapter four we experimentally test envariance, an assisted-symmetry exhibited byspecifi c quantum systems. Envariance is a fundamental property in the quantum world thathas lacked, until now, extensive experimental study. The symmetry has ramifi cations in thefoundations of quantum mechanics, and plays an integral role in a proof of Born;;s rule [1].Our results serve as a benchmark the property of envariance. We show that experimentalquantum states can be (99.66+/-0.04)% envariant over a wide range of transformations, asmeasured using the average quantum fi delity [2], and (99.963 +/- 0.005)% as measured usinga modifi ed average Bhattacharya Coeffi cient [3], a measure of the overlap of two probabilitydistributions.
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Fundamental Tests of Quantum Mechanics using Two-Photon Entanglement
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