Nonmaximal entanglement of photons from positron-electron annihilation demonstrated using a plastic PET scanner.

ABSTRACT: In state-of-the-art positron emission tomography (PET), information about annihilation photon polarization is unavailable. Here, we present a PET scanner built from plastic scintillators, where annihilation photons primarily interact via the Compton effect, providing information about both photon polarization and propagation direction. Using this plastic-based PET, we determined the distribution of the relative angle between polarization planes of photons from positron-electron annihilation in a porous polymer. The amplitude of the observed distribution is smaller than predicted for maximally quantum entangled two-photon states but larger than expected for separable photons. This result can be well explained by assuming that photons from pick-off annihilation are not entangled, while photo

SUBMITTER: Moskal P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12042903 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature