Experimental test of the no signaling theorem

Tiziano De Angelis, Francesco De Martini, Eleonora Nagali, Fabio Sciarrino

Published 2007-05-14, updated 2007-05-17Version 2

In 1981 N. Herbert proposed a gedanken experiment in order to achieve by the ''First Laser Amplified Superluminal Hookup'' (FLASH) a faster than light communication (FTL) by quantum nonlocality. The present work reports the first experimental realization of that proposal by the optical parametric amplification of a single photon belonging to an entangled EPR pair into an output field involving 5 x 10^3 photons. A thorough theoretical and experimental analysis explains in general and conclusive terms the precise reasons for the failure of the FLASH program as well as of any similar FTL proposals.