I had a theory for a photon based sensor technology.

[Morthawt]

I do not know if this is even viable, but it struck me at least of a cool sci-fi based sensor technology. I detailed everything on reddit here: http://redd.it/1xum5v

 

I will paste a copy of what I typed below:

 

 

Please tell me if this would be technically viable.

I am aware of experiments with quantum entangled photons where when one of them is moved, the other one has a corresponding movement almost instantly as soon as the other original was moved. So, I had an idea.

What if you had a device that created pairs of quantum entangled photons, fired half of them out of the front of the device via a laser and kept the quantum entangled other half in the device. Then when ever the outbound photons encounter an object or force that moves their position or otherwise deflects them, the abrupt coherent movement of the local entangled photons coupled with the delay between their outward counterparts release and the local movement would produce a distance measurement from the remote object or force that caused the outbound photon movement? Plus if multiple photons were fired from different angles and elevations it could produce some kind of image of the force or object that caused the deflection/movement of the outbound photons?

I am not sure if this would work, I know that if you measure/view something that it can alter the data, so I am not sure, but it sounded like a cool and at least sci-fi worthy concept for a sensor technology. Perhaps this is senseless but I am curious what you think about this.

Again, I know almost nothing about quantum physics other than passing commentary from documentaries here and there. So what are your thoughts on this?

 

I know pretty much nothing about quantum physics and I do not pretend to be knowledgeable about it, I am just curious about the viability of this. What do you think?

[swansont]

Entanglement does not work the way you describe. It means there is a correlation in measurements, not a reaction to interaction.

[Morthawt]

The way I have heard it described and shown in video examples is when one of the photons moves up, so does the other photon by its self at almost instant speed. That is what got me thinking about what use that could be. So what actually would happen?

[swansont]

If you had two photons that were entangled via their polarization, when you measure the polarization of one of them, you instantly know the polarization of the other. Once you make the measurement, then the entanglement is broken.

[Morthawt]

So they are not entangled forever then? I have never heard that at all. They always portray it as that they are permanently linked and if one moves so does the other. So what do you mean by polorization? Plus would it work for a simple ping style thing where you fire a photon out, then check the local entangled one and get the data and trash that local one and send out a new photon and check the new entangled local one for some change?

[Delta1212]

The only impact that moving an entangled particle will have on its partner is that it will very likely break the entanglement. Under no circumstances will the other particle move because you moved its entangled partner. That's a misconception perpetuated by very bad pop science and poorly researched science fiction. It's not even remotely how entanglement actually works.

 

You cannot, under any circumstances, affect one particle of an entangled pair by doing things to the other one. All you can do is determine the state one is in by checking the other, but once you've checked, you lose the ability to do even that unless you entangle the particles again.

[Sensei]

So what do you mean by polorization?

 

I showed photos what result you should expect by placing polarization filters between LED/LCD monitor and your eyes or camera in this thread

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/80366-particle-location/?p=783255

 

Polarization is described f.e. here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_%28waves%29

If we have not-polarized source emitting photons (such as laser, Sun or light bulb) to material that is passing through photons with one polarization, and reflecting photons with opposite polarization, you will know which polarization expect from each new beam of photons. These photons are entangled - measure one beam, and you know in advance what result you will have measuring the other one.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Sensei

[swansont]

 

If we have not-polarized source emitting photons (such as laser, Sun or light bulb) to material that is passing through photons with one polarization, and reflecting photons with opposite polarization, you will know which polarization expect from each new beam of photons. These photons are entangled - measure one beam, and you know in advance what result you will have measuring the other one.

 

I don't think that gives you entangles pairs. You know in advance what the polarizations are because of the reflection/transmission, which is not the same thing.