A strong Bell correlation witness between spatially separated pairs of atoms

Abstract: The violation of a Bell inequality is a striking demonstration of how quantum mechanics contradicts local realism. Although the original argument was presented with a pair of spin 1/2 particles, so far Bell inequalities have been shown to be violated using entangled pairs of photons, with recent measurements closing all possible loopholes in such a scheme. Equivalent demonstrations using massive particles have proven to be much more challenging, generally relying on post-selection of data or measuring an entanglement witness that relies on quantum mechanics. Here, we use a collision between two Bose-Einstein condensates to generate the momentum-spin entangled pairs of ultracold helium atoms. We show that a maximally entangled Bell triplet state results and report a direct observation of a strong Bell correlation witness. Based on the high degree of entanglement and the controllability of ultracold atomic systems, extensions to this scheme would allow a demonstration of nonlocality with massive entangled pairs, following the original idea of Bell. Other applications include the demonstration of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, quantum metrology and tests of phenomena from exotic theories sensitive to such systems including gravitational decoherence and quantum gravity.