Entanglement-based signature of nonlocal dispersion cancellation

Abstract

We derive an inequality bounding the strength of temporal correlations for a pair of light beams prepared in a separable state and propagating through dispersive media with opposite signs of group velocity dispersion. The presented inequality can be violated by entangled states of light, such as photon pairs produced in spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Because the class of separable states covers the entire category of classical fields as a particular case, this result provides an unambiguously quantum feature of nonlocal dispersion cancellation that cannot be reproduced within the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation.