The uncertainty principle is at the very heart of quantum mechanics. Position, x, and momentum, p, are important physical observables to determine the mechanical properties of a system. In quantum mechanics, these two fundamental observables do not commute which results in the uncertainty principle. This sets the fundamental limit in the accuracy of simultaneous measurements of x and p. The quantum algebra of the commutation relation plays an important role in many of the paradoxes and applications of quantum physics.  In this presentation, we show quantum optical schemes to directly test the commutation relations. Moreover, in quantum gravity the uncertainty principle is modified to reflect the existence of the minimum length scale under which ‘length’ is not properly defined. We also discuss a scheme to test such the modified uncertainty principle.

报告人简介： Myungshik Kim (MSK) is Professor in Quantum Information Science Theory. He is Head of Quantum Optics and Laser Science Group at Blackett Laboratory. After completing his PhD on the quantum aspect of atom-field interaction, he worked on nonclassical properties of optical fields at Imperial College. He works closely with experimentalists since he was at Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (MPQ) as a Humboldt Fellow. His research interests include theory of atom-field interactions, implementation issues of quantum information processing and foundations of quantum mechanics. For his contribution in the research of quantum optics and quantum information processing, he was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.