Meeting the Universe Halfway is an ambitious book with far-reaching implications for numerous fields in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. In this volume, Karen Barad, theoretical physicist and feminist theorist, elaborates her theory of agential realism. Offering an account of the world as a whole rather than as composed of separate natural and social realms, agential realism is at once a new epistemology, ontology, and ethics. The starting point for Barad’s analysis is the philosophical framework of quantum physicist Niels Bohr. Barad extends and partially revises Bohr’s philosophical views in light of current scholarship in physics, science studies, and the philosophy of science as well as feminist, poststructuralist, and other critical social theories. In the process, she significantly reworks understandings of space, time, matter, causality, agency, subjectivity, and objectivity.

In an agential realist account, the world is made of entanglements of “social” and “natural” agencies, where the distinction between the two emerges out of specific intra-actions. Intra-activity is an inexhaustible dynamism that configures and reconfigures relations of space-time-matter. In explaining intra-activity, Barad reveals questions about how nature and culture interact and change over time to be fundamentally misguided. And she reframes understanding of the nature of scientific and political practices and their “interrelationship.” Thus she pays particular attention to the responsible practice of science, and she emphasizes changes in the understanding of political practices, critically reworking Judith Butler’s influential theory of performativity. Finally, Barad uses agential realism to produce a new interpretation of quantum physics, demonstrating that agential realism is more than a means of reflecting on science; it can be used to actually do science.

Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is the first quantum information task to reach the level of mature technology, already fit for commercialization. It aims at the creation of a secret key between authorized partners connected by a quantum channel and a classical authenticated channel. The security of the key can in principle be guaranteed without putting any restriction on an eavesdropper's power. This article provides a concise up-to-date review of QKD, biased toward the practical side. Essential theoretical tools that have been developed to assess the security of the main experimental platforms are presented (discrete-variable, continuous-variable, and distributed-phase-reference protocols).

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The security of practical quantum key distribution

Nano-optics of surface plasmon polaritons

The presence of tiny holes in an opaque metal film, with sizes smaller than the wavelength of incident light, leads to a wide variety of unexpected optical properties such as strongly enhanced transmission of light through the holes and wavelength filtering. These intriguing effects are now known to be due to the interaction of the light with electronic resonances in the surface of the metal film, and they can be controlled by adjusting the size and geometry of the holes. This knowledge is opening up exciting new opportunities in applications ranging from subwavelength optics and optoelectronics to chemical sensing and biophysics.

Light in tiny holes

The first quantum technology that harnesses quantum mechanical effects for its core operation has arrived in the form of commercially available quantum key distribution systems. This technology achieves enhanced security by encoding information in photons such that an eavesdropper in the system can be detected. Anticipated future quantum technologies include large-scale secure networks, enhanced measurement and lithography, and quantum information processors, which promise exponentially greater computational power for particular tasks. Photonics is destined to have a central role in such technologies owing to the high-speed transmission and outstanding low-noise properties of photons. These technologies may use single photons, quantum states of bright laser beams or both, and will undoubtedly apply and drive state-of-the-art developments in photonics.

Photonic quantum technologies

Einstein's theory of special relativity and the principle of causality imply that the speed of any moving object cannot exceed that of light in a vacuum (c) Nevertheless, there exist various proposals for observing faster-than-c propagation of light pulses, using anomalous dispersion near an absorption line, nonlinear and linear gain lines, or tunnelling barriers However, in all previous experimental demonstrations, the light pulses experienced either very large absorption or severe reshaping, resulting in controversies over the interpretation Here we use gain-assisted linear anomalous dispersion to demonstrate superluminal light propagation in atomic caesium gas The group velocity of a laser pulse in this region exceeds c and can even become negative, while the shape of the pulse is preserved We measure a group-velocity index of n(g) = -310(+/- 5); in practice, this means that a light pulse propagating through the atomic vapour cell appears at the exit side so much earlier than if it had propagated the same distance in a vacuum that the peak of the pulse appears to leave the cell before entering it The observed superluminal light pulse propagation is not at odds with causality, being a direct consequence of classical interference between its different frequency components in an anomalous dispersion region

Gain-assisted superluminal light propagation

Second-order interference is observed in the superposition of signal photons from two coherently pumped parametric down-converters, when the paths of the idler photons are aligned. The interference exhibits certain nonclassical features; it disappears when the idlers are misaligned or separated by a beam stop. The interpretation of this effect is discussed in terms of the intrinsic indistinguishability of the photon paths.

Induced coherence and indistinguishability in optical interference.

Anomalous dispersion cannot occur in a transparent passive medium where electromagnetic radiation is being absorbed at all frequencies, as pointed out by Landau and Lifshitz. Here we show, both theoretically and experimentally, that transparent linear anomalous dispersion can occur when a gain doublet is present. Therefore, a superluminal light-pulse propagation can be observed even at a negative 7group velocity through a transparent medium with almost no pulse distortion. Consequently, a negative transit time is experimentally observed resulting in the peak of the incident light pulse to exit the medium even before entering it. This counterintuitive effect is a direct result of the rephasing process owing to the wave nature of light and is not at odds with either causality or Einstein's theory of special relativity.

https://homepage.univie.ac.at/Markus.Aspelmeyer/lecture/PRA_63_53806_Dogariu.pdf

Transparent anomalous dispersion and superluminal light-pulse propagation at a negative group velocity

An interference experiment with signal and idler photons produced by parametric down-conversion in two nonlinear crystals is described and analyzed theoretically. It is found that when the idlers for the two crystals are superposed and aligned, the idler photon from the first crystal can induce coherence between the two signals, but without inducing any additional emission. Blocking the first idler wipes out the interference. The implications for the interpretation of the quantum state vector are discussed, and this leads to the conclusion that the state reflects not only what is known, but to some extent also what is knowable in principle.

Induced coherence without induced emission

The synchronisation of time and frequency between remote locations is crucial for many important applications. Conventional time and frequency dissemination often makes use of satellite links. Recently, the communication fibre network has become an attractive option for long-distance time and frequency dissemination. Here, we demonstrate accurate frequency transfer and time synchronisation via an 80 km fibre link between Tsinghua University (THU) and the National Institute of Metrology of China (NIM). Using a 9.1 GHz microwave modulation and a timing signal carried by two continuous-wave lasers and transferred across the same 80 km urban fibre link, frequency transfer stability at the level of 5×10−19/day was achieved. Time synchronisation at the 50 ps precision level was also demonstrated. The system is reliable and has operated continuously for several months. We further discuss the feasibility of using such frequency and time transfer over 1000 km and its applications to long-baseline radio astronomy.

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Lijun Wang

Papers

Gain-assisted superluminal light propagation

Induced coherence and indistinguishability in optical interference.

Transparent anomalous dispersion and superluminal light-pulse propagation at a negative group velocity

Induced coherence without induced emission

Precise and Continuous Time and Frequency Synchronisation at the 5×10 -19 Accuracy Level