Anton Zeilinger#Atom and macromolecule interferometry

Anton Zeilinger was born in 1945 in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria, Austria. He studied physics at the University of Vienna from 1963 to 1971.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anton-Zeilinger|title=Anton Zeilinger |website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=16 May 2024 }} He received a doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1971, with a thesis on "Neutron depolarization measurements on a Dy-single crystal" under Helmut Rauch. He qualified as a university lecturer (habilitation) at the Vienna University of Technology in 1979.{{Cite web |date=30 September 2022 |title=Curriculum Vitae Anton Zeilinger |url=https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IQOQI-Vienna/IMG/team/zeilinger-group/CV_Anton_Zeilinger.pdf |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Austrian Academy of Sciences |archive-date=30 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830112938/https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IQOQI-Vienna/IMG/team/zeilinger-group/CV_Anton_Zeilinger.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=1972 |title=Neutron depolarization measurements on a Dy-single crystal |url=https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IQOQI-Vienna/PDF/publications-zeilinger/1972_Neutron_depolarization_measurements_ona_Dy-single_crystal.pdf |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Austrian Academy of Sciences |archive-date=8 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108011105/https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IQOQI-Vienna/PDF/publications-zeilinger/1972_Neutron_depolarization_measurements_ona_Dy-single_crystal.pdf |url-status=live }}For a history of Zeilinger's career in the Austrian context of the rise of quantum foundationd and quantum information, see {{cite journal | last1 = Del Santo | first1 = F. | last2 = Schwarzhans | first2 = E. | year = 2022 | title = "Philosophysics" at the University of Vienna: The (Pre-) History of Foundations of Quantum Physics in the Viennese Cultural Context | journal = Physics in Perspective | volume = 24 | issue = 2–3| pages = 125–153 | doi = 10.1007/s00016-022-00290-y | pmid = 36437910 | pmc = 9678993 | arxiv = 2011.11969 | bibcode = 2022PhP....24..125D }}

In the 1970s, Zeilinger worked at the Vienna Atominstitut as a research assistant and later as an associate researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Neutron Diffraction Laboratory until 1979, when he accepted the position of assistant professor at the same Atominstitut. That year he qualified as a university professor at the Vienna University of Technology.{{cite journal | last1 = Del Santo | first1 = F. | last2 = Schwarzhans | first2 = E. | year = 2022 | title = "Philosophysics" at the University of Vienna: The (Pre-) History of Foundations of Quantum Physics in the Viennese Cultural Context | journal = Physics in Perspective | volume = 24 | issue = 2–3| pages = 125–153 | doi = 10.1007/s00016-022-00290-y | pmid = 36437910 | pmc = 9678993 | arxiv = 2011.11969 | bibcode = 2022PhP....24..125D }}

In 1981 Zeilinger returned to MIT, as an associate professor on the physics faculty, until 1983. Between 1980 and 1990 he worked as a professor at the Vienna University of Technology, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna.

He was also the scientific director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Vienna between 2004 and 2013. Zeilinger became professor emeritus at the University of Vienna in 2013. He was president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 2013 till 2022.{{cite news|url=http://vcq.quantum.at/news/news/detail/417.html|title=Anton Zeilinger – new President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences|date=16 March 2013|work=Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology|access-date=23 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013174448/http://vcq.quantum.at/news/news/detail/417.html|archive-date=13 October 2014|url-status=dead}}

Since 2006, Zeilinger is the vice chairman of the board of trustees of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, an ambitious project initiated by Zeilinger's proposal. In 2009, he founded the International Academy Traunkirchen,{{Cite web|url=http://www.akademietraunkirchen.com/en/|title=International Academy Traunkirchen|accessdate=15 October 2021|archive-date=19 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219031220/http://www.akademietraunkirchen.com/en/|url-status=live}} which is dedicated to the support of gifted students in science and technology. He is a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, going so far as to name his sailboat 42.{{cite journal|title=The Gedanken Experimenter|journal=Scientific American|date=1 August 2007|first=JR|last=Minkel|volume=297|issue=2|pages=94–96|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0807-94|pmid=17894178|bibcode=2007SciAm.297b..94M}}

Zeilinger published one of the first realizations of quantum teleportation of an independent qubit.D. Bouwmeester, J. W. Pan, K. Mattle, M. Eibl, H. Weinfurter & A. Zeilinger, Experimental Quantum Teleportation, Nature 390, 575–579 (1997). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v390/n6660/abs/390575a0.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029095138/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v390/n6660/abs/390575a0.html |date=29 October 2009 }}. Selected for the Nature "Looking Back" category of classic papers from Nature's archive; one of ISI's "Highly Cited Papers".Popescu's group published similar results around the same time. {{cite journal

|last1=Boschi |first1=D. |last2=Branca |first2=S. |last3=De Martini |first3=F. |last4=Hardy |first4=L. |last5=Popescu |first5=S.

|journal=Physical Review Letters

|volume=80

|issue=6

|pages=1121–1125

|doi= 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.1121

|title=Experimental Realization of Teleporting an Unknown Pure Quantum State via Dual Classical and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Channels

|date=1998-02-09

|arxiv = quant-ph/9710013 |bibcode = 1998PhRvL..80.1121B |s2cid=15020942

}}{{Cite journal |last=Lindley |first=David |date=2010-01-08 |title=Landmarks: Teleportation is not Science Fiction |url=https://physics.aps.org/story/v25/st1 |access-date=2024-11-16 |journal=Physics |volume=25 |issue=13 |pages=1895–1899 |language=en | quote=The first demonstrations of teleportation came a few years later. |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.70.1895|pmid=10053414 |bibcode=1993PhRvL..70.1895B }} He later expanded this work to developing a source for freely propagating teleported qubitsJ.-W. Pan, S. Gasparoni, M. Aspelmeyer, T. Jennewein & A. Zeilinger, Experimental Realization of Freely Propagating Teleported Qubits, Nature 421, 721–725 (2003). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6924/abs/nature01412.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115040058/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6924/abs/nature01412.html |date=15 November 2013 }}.Selected by the International Institute of Physics as one of the top ten Physics Highlights in 2003. and quantum teleportation over 144 kilometers between two Canary Islands.X.-S. Ma, T. Herbst, T. Scheidl, D. Wang, S. Kropatschek, W. Naylor, B. Wittmann, A. Mech, J. Kofler, E. Anisimova, V. Makarov, T. Jennewein, R. Ursin & A. Zeilinger, Quantum teleportation over 143 kilometres using active feed-forward, Nature 489, 269–273 (2012). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7415/full/nature11472.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153225/https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11472 |date=4 October 2022 }}. Ranked as a "highly cited paper" by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, placing it in the 1% of the academic field of physics based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year. Quantum teleportation is an essential concept in many quantum information protocols. Besides its role for the transfer of quantum information, it is also considered as an important possible mechanism for building gates within quantum computers.{{Cite web |last=Shelton |first=Jim |date=5 September 2018 |title=Yale researchers 'teleport' a quantum gate |url=https://news.yale.edu/2018/09/05/yale-researchers-teleport-quantum-gate |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=YaleNews |language=en}}

Entanglement swapping is the teleportation of an entangled state. After its proposal,M. Zukowski, A. Zeilinger, M. A. Horne & A.K. Ekert, Event-Ready-Detectors Bell Experiment via Entanglement Swapping, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 4287–90 (1993). [https://archive.today/20130414002808/http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v71/i26/p4287_1 Abstract]. entanglement swapping was first realized experimentally by Zeilinger's group in 1998.J.-W. Pan, D. Bouwmeester, H. Weinfurter & A. Zeilinger, Experimental entanglement swapping: Entangling photons that never interacted, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80 (18), 3891–3894 (1998). [https://archive.today/20130414012848/http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v80/i18/p3891_1 Abstract]. It was then applied to carry out a delayed-choice entanglement swapping test.X.-S. Ma, S.Zotter, J. Kofler, R. Ursin, T. Jennewein, Č. Brukner & A. Zeilinger, Experimental delayed-choice entanglement swapping, Nature Physics 8, 479–484 (2012). [http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v8/n6/full/nphys2294.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153323/https://www.nature.com/articles/nphys2294 |date=4 October 2022 }}.

File:Zeilinger with sculpture by Voss-Andreae.jpg, photo by J. Godany]]

Anton Zeilinger contributed to the opening up of the field of multi-particle entanglement.{{cite journal |author1=D. Greenberger |author2=M. Horne |author3=A. Zeilinger |title=Multiparticle Interferometry and the Superposition Principle |journal=Physics Today |date=1 August 1993 |volume=46 |issue=8 |page=22 |doi=10.1063/1.881360 |bibcode=1993PhT....46h..22G |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.881360 |access-date=21 April 2021 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423204829/https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.881360 |url-status=live }} In 1990, he was the first with Daniel Greenberger and Michael Horne to work on entanglement of more than two qubits.{{cite journal | last1 = Greenberger | first1 = D. M. | last2 = Horne | first2 = M. A. | last3 = Shimony | first3 = A. | last4 = Zeilinger | first4 = A. | year = 1990 | title = Bell's Theorem without Inequalities | url = | journal = American Journal of Physics | volume = 58 | issue = 12| pages = 1131–1143 | doi = 10.1119/1.16243 | bibcode = 1990AmJPh..58.1131G }} This paper has become a citation classic. The resulting GHZ theorem (see Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state) is fundamental for quantum physics, as it provides the most succinct contradiction between local realism and the predictions of quantum mechanics.{{cite book |author1=Daniel M. Greenberger |author2=Michael A. Horne |author3=Anton Zeilinger |editor1-last=Kafatos |editor1-first=Menos |editor1-link=Menas Kafatos |title=Bell's Theorem, Quantum Theory, and Conceptions of the Universe |date=1989 |publisher=Springer |location=Heidelberg |isbn=978-94-017-0849-4 |pages=69–72 |edition=1 |chapter=Going Beyond Bell's Theorem |arxiv=0712.0921 }}

GHZ states were the first instances of multi-particle entanglement ever investigated.{{cite journal |author1=Jian-Wei Pan |author2=Zeng-Bing Chen |author3=Chao-Yang Lu |author4=Harald Weinfurter |author5=Anton Zeilinger |author6=Marek Żukowski |title=Multiphoton entanglement and interferometry |journal=Rev. Mod. Phys. |date=11 May 2012 |volume=84 |issue=2 |page=777 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.84.777 |url=https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.84.777 |arxiv=0805.2853 |bibcode=2012RvMP...84..777P |s2cid=119193263 |access-date=21 April 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525174042/https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.84.777 |url-status=live }} Ranked as a "highly cited paper" by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, placing it in the 1% of the academic field of physics based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.

Finally, in 1999, he succeeded in providing the first experimental evidence of entanglement beyond two particlesD. Bouwmeester, J.-W. Pan, M. Daniell, H. Weinfurter & A. Zeilinger, Observation of three-photon Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger entanglement, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 (7), 1345–1349 (1999). [http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v8/n6/full/nphys2294.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153323/https://www.nature.com/articles/nphys2294 |date=4 October 2022 }}. and also the first test of quantum nonlocality for GHZ states.J.-W. Pan, D. Bouwmeester, M. Daniell, H. Weinfurter & A. Zeilinger, Experimental test of quantum nonlocality in three-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement, Nature 403, 515–519 (2000). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v403/n6769/abs/403515a0.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115052803/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v403/n6769/abs/403515a0.html |date=15 November 2013 }}.

In 1998 (published in 2000), his group was the first to implement quantum cryptography with entangled photons.{{cite journal | last1 = Jennewein | first1 = T. | last2 = Simon | first2 = C. | last3 = Weihs | first3 = G. | last4 = Weinfurter | first4 = H. | last5 = Zeilinger | first5 = A. | year = 2000 | title = Quantum Cryptography with Entangled Photons | url = https://archive.today/20130414013539/http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v84/i20/p4729_1 | journal = Phys. Rev. Lett. | volume = 84 | issue = 20| pages = 4729–4732 | doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4729 | pmid = 10990782 | arxiv = quant-ph/9912117 | bibcode = 2000PhRvL..84.4729J }} This paper was featured in several popular science magazines, both online and in print. He then applied quantum entanglement to optical quantum computation, where in 2005,P. Walther, K.J. Resch, T. Rudolph, E. Schenck, H. Weinfurter, V. Vedral, M. Aspelmeyer & A. Zeilinger, "Experimental one-way quantum computing", Nature 434 (7030), 169–176 (2005). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7030/abs/nature03347.html Abstract] he performed the first implementation of one-way quantum computation. This is a protocol based on quantum measurement as proposed by Knill, Laflamme and Milburn.E. Knill, R. Laflamme & G. J. Milburn, (2001) "A scheme for efficient quantum computation with linear optics", Nature 409, 46–52 [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v409/n6816/abs/409046a0.html Abstract]

The experiments of Zeilinger and his group on the distribution of entanglement over large distances began with both free-space and fiber-based quantum communication and teleportation between laboratories located on the different sides of the river Danube.{{cite journal |author1=Rupert Ursin |author2=Thomas Jennewein |author3=Markus Aspelmeyer |author4=Rainer Kaltenbaek |author5=Michael Lindenthal |author6=Philip Walther |author7=Anton Zeilinger |title=Quantum teleportation across the Danube |journal=Nature |date=18 August 2004 |volume=430 |issue=7002 |page=849 |doi=10.1038/430849a |pmid=15318210 |s2cid=4426035 |doi-access=free }} This was then extended to larger distances across the city of Vienna{{cite journal |author1=Markus Aspelmeyer |author2=Hannes R. Böhm |author3=Tsewang Gyatso |author4=Thomas Jennewein |author5=Rainer Kaltenbaek |author6=Michael Lindenthal |author7=Gabriel Molina-Terriza |author8=Andreas Poppe |author9=Kevin Resch |author10=Michael Taraba |author11=Rupert Ursin |author12=Philip Walther |author13=Anton Zeilinger |title=Long-Distance Free-Space Distribution of Quantum Entanglement |journal=Science |date=1 August 2003 |volume=301 |issue=5633 |pages=621–623 |doi=10.1126/science.1085593 |pmid=12817085 |bibcode=2003Sci...301..621A |s2cid=40583982 |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1085593}} and over 144 km between two Canary Islands, resulting in a successful demonstration that quantum communication with satellites is feasible. His dream is to put sources of entangled light onto a satellite in orbit. A first step was achieved during an experiment at the Italian {{interlanguage link|Matera Laser Ranging Observatory|it}}.P. Villoresi, T. Jennewein, F. Tamburini, M. Aspelmeyer, C. Bonato, R. Ursin, C. Pernechele, V. Luceri, G. Bianco, A. Zeilinger & C. Barbieri,[https://arxiv.org/abs/0803.1871v1 Experimental verification of the feasibility of a quantum channel between Space and Earth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122054058/https://arxiv.org/abs/0803.1871v1 |date=22 November 2017 }}, New Journal of Physics 10, 033038 (2008). Highlight of New J. Phys. for 2008.

With his group, Anton Zeilinger made many contributions to the realization of novel entangled states. The source for polarization-entangled photon pairs developed with Paul Kwiat when he was a PostDoc in Zeilinger's groupP.G. Kwiat, K. Mattle, H. Weinfurter, A. Zeilinger, A.V. Sergienko & Y.H. Shih, New High-Intensity Source of Polarization-Entangled Photon Pairs, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (24), 4337–41 (1995). [https://archive.today/20130414013820/http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v75/i24/p4337_1 Abstract]. is used in many laboratories. The first demonstration of entanglement of orbital angular momentum of photons opened up a new field of research in many laboratories.A. Mair, A. Vaziri, G. Weihs & A. Zeilinger, Entanglement of the orbital angular momentum states of photons, Nature 412 (6844), 313–316 (2001). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v412/n6844/full/412313a0.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503041326/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v412/n6844/full/412313a0.html |date=3 May 2010 }}.

Zeilinger is also interested to extend quantum mechanics into the macroscopic domain. In the early 1990s, he started experiments in the field of atom optics. He developed a number of ways to coherently manipulate atomic beams, many of which, like the coherent energy shift of an atomic De Broglie wave upon diffraction at a time-modulated light wave, have become part of today's ultracold atom experiments. In 1999, Zeilinger abandoned atom optics for experiments with very complex and massive macro-molecules – fullerenes. The successful demonstration of quantum interference for these C₆₀ and C₇₀ moleculesM. Arndt, O. Nairz, J. Voss-Andreae, C. Keller, G. van der Zouw & A. Zeilinger, Wave-particle duality of C₆₀ molecules, Nature 401, 680–682 (1999). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v401/n6754/abs/401680a0.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921194734/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v401/n6754/abs/401680a0.html |date=21 September 2012 }}. Selected by the American Physical Society as a physics highlight of 1999. in 1999 opened up a very active field of research.

In 2005, Zeilinger with his group investigated the quantum physics of mechanical cantilevers.{{Cite web |last=Yumpu.com |title=Anton Zeilinger's achievements have been most - Quantum ... |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/7757121/anton-zeilingers-achievements-have-been-most-quantum-#google_vignette |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=yumpu.com |language=en}} In the year 2006 along with Heidmann in Paris{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} and Kippenberg in Garching{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} they demonstrated experimentally the self-cooling of a micro-mirror by radiation pressure, that is, without feedback.S. Gigan, H. R. Böhm, M. Paternostro, F. Blaser, G. Langer, J. B. Hertzberg, K. Schwab, D. Bäuerle, M. Aspelmeyer & A. Zeilinger, Self-cooling of a micro-mirror by radiation pressure, Nature 444, 67–70 (2006). [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7115/abs/nature05273.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801012756/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7115/abs/nature05273.html |date=1 August 2013 }}.

Using orbital angular momentum states, he was able to demonstrate entanglement of angular momentum up to 300 ħ.R. Fickler, R. Lapkiewicz, W. N. Plick, M. Krenn, C. Schäff, S. Ramelow & A. Zeilinger, Quantum entanglement of high angular momenta, Science 338, 640–643 (2012). [https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1227193 Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229150957/https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1227193 |date=29 December 2021 }}. Selected as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year 2012 by IOP's Physics World. Also featured in DPG's Physik Journal. Ranked as a "highly cited paper" by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, placing it in the 1% of the academic field of physics based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.

Zeilinger's program of fundamental tests of quantum mechanics is aimed at implementing experimental realizations of many non-classical features of quantum physics for individual systems. In 1998,G. Weihs, T. Jennewein, C. Simon, H. Weinfurter & A. Zeilinger, Violation of Bell's inequality under strict Einstein locality conditions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (23), 5039–5043 (1998). [https://archive.today/20120713000803/http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v81/i23/p5039_1 Abstract]. This paper is a classic. It is cited (among others) in the German Wikipedia article on Bell's inequality and in several popular science books and science books for University students. he provided the final test of Bell's inequality closing the communication loophole by using superfast random number generators. His group also realized the first Bell inequality experiment implementing the freedom-of-choice conditionT. Scheidl, R. Ursin, J. Kofler, S. Ramelow, X. Ma, T. Herbst, L. Ratschbacher, A. Fedrizzi, N. K. Langford, T. Jennewein & A. Zeilinger, Violation of local realism with freedom of choice, PNAS 107 (46), 19709 – 19713 (2010). [http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/29/1002780107 Abstract] and provided the first realization of a Bell test without the fair sampling assumption for photons.{{cite journal |author1=M. Giustina |author2=A. Mech |author3=S. Ramelow |author4=B. Wittmann |author5=J. Kofler |author6=J. Beyer |author7=A. Lita |author8=B. Calkins |author9=T. Gerrits |author10=S.-W. Nam |author11=R. Ursin |author12=A. Zeilinger |title=Bell violation using entangled photons without the fair-sampling assumption |journal=Nature |date=2013 |volume=497 |issue=7448 |pages=227–230 |doi=10.1038/nature12012 |pmid=23584590 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12012?page=1 |arxiv=1212.0533 |bibcode=2013Natur.497..227G |s2cid=18877065 |access-date=21 April 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153844/https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12012?page=1 |url-status=live }}. Ranked as a "highly cited paper" by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, placing it in the 1% of the academic field of physics based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.

Among the further fundamental tests he performed the most notable one is his test of a large class of nonlocal realistic theories proposed by Leggett.A. J. Leggett, Nonlocal Hidden-Variable Theories and Quantum Mechanics: An Incompatibility Theorem, Foundations of Physics 33 (10), 1469–1493 (2003)(doi:10.1023/A:1026096313729) [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1026096313729 Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153843/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1026096313729 |date=4 October 2022 }}. The group of theories excluded by that experiment can be classified as those which allow reasonable subdivision of ensembles into sub-ensembles. It goes significantly beyond Bell's theorem. While Bell showed that a theory which is both local and realistic is at variance with quantum mechanics, Leggett considered nonlocal realistic theories where the individual photons are assumed to carry polarization. The resulting Leggett inequality was shown to be violated in the experiments of the Zeilinger group.{{cite journal | last1 = Gröblacher | first1 = S. | last2 = Paterek | first2 = T. | last3 = Kaltenbaek | first3 = R. | last4 = Brukner | first4 = C. | last5 = Zukowski | first5 = M. | last6 = Aspelmeyer | first6 = M. | last7 = Zeilinger | first7 = A. | year = 2007 | title = An experimental test of non-local realism | url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7138/abs/nature05677.html | journal = Nature | volume = 446 | issue = 7138| pages = 871–875 | doi = 10.1038/nature05677 | pmid = 17443179 | arxiv = 0704.2529 | bibcode = 2007Natur.446..871G }}

In an analogous way, his group showed that even quantum systems where entanglement is not possible exhibit non-classical features which cannot be explained by underlying non-contextual probability distributions.R. Lapkiewicz, P. Li, C. Schäff, N. K. Langford, S. Ramelow, M. Wiesniak & A. Zeilinger, Experimental non-classicality of an indivisible quantum system, Nature 474, 490–493 (2011).[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/full/nature10119.html Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907203502/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/full/nature10119.html |date=7 September 2011 }}

Anton Zeilinger's earliest work is perhaps his least known. His work on neutron interferometry has provided a foundation for his later research.

As a member of the group of his thesis supervisor, Helmut Rauch, at the Technical University of Vienna, Zeilinger participated in a number of neutron interferometry experiments at the Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble. His very first such experiment confirmed a fundamental prediction of quantum mechanics, the sign change of a spinor phase upon rotation.{{cite journal |author1=H. Rauch |author2=A. Zeilinger |author3=G. Badurek |author4=A. Wilfing |author5=W. Bauspiess |author6=U. Bonse |title=Verification of coherent spinor rotation of fermions |journal=Physics Letters A |date=20 October 1975 |volume=54 |issue=6 |pages=425–427 |doi=10.1016/0375-9601(75)90798-7 |bibcode=1975PhLA...54..425R |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(75)90798-7 |access-date=21 April 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004153849/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0375960175907987?via%3Dihub |url-status=live }} This was followed by the first experimental realization of coherent spin superposition of matter waves. He continued his work in neutron interferometry at MIT with C.G. Shull (Nobel Laureate), focusing specifically on dynamical diffraction effects of neutrons in perfect crystals which are due to multi-wave coherent superposition. After his return to Europe, he built up an interferometer for very cold neutrons which preceded later similar experiments with atoms. The fundamental experiments there included a most precise test of the linearity of quantum mechanics. Zeilinger built a double-slit diffraction experiment{{Cite journal |last1=Zeilinger |first1=Anton |last2=Gähler |first2=Roland |last3=Shull |first3=C. G. |last4=Treimer |first4=Wolfgang |last5=Mampe |first5=Walter |date=1988-10-01 |title=Single- and double-slit diffraction of neutrons |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.60.1067 |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |language=en |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=1067–1073 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.60.1067 |bibcode=1988RvMP...60.1067Z |issn=0034-6861}} on the S18 instrument at the Institut Laue-Langevin which, later on, gained in accuracy and could act with only one neutron at a time in the apparatus.{{Cite journal |last1=Hasegawa |first1=Yuji |last2=Loidl |first2=Rudolf |last3=Badurek |first3=Gerald |last4=Baron |first4=Matthias |last5=Rauch |first5=Helmut |date=September 2003 |title=Violation of a Bell-like inequality in single-neutron interferometry |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01881 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=425 |issue=6953 |pages=45–48 |doi=10.1038/nature01881 |pmid=12955134 |bibcode=2003Natur.425...45H |s2cid=39583445 |issn=1476-4687}}

• Nobel Prize in Physics (2022, with John Clauser, Alain Aspect)
• Heisenberg Medal of the Heisenberg Society (2022){{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-12-09 |title=Von Nobelpreisträger zu Nobelpreisträger: Verleihung der Heisenberg-Medaille an Anton Zeilinger |url=https://www.unipress.at/wissenschaft/von-nobelpreistraeger-zu-nobelpreistraeger-verleihung-der-heisenberg-medaille-an-anton-zeilinger/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=UNIpress |language=de-DE}}
• Micius Quantum Prize, Micius Quantum Foundation (2019, with Stephen Wiesner, Charles H. Bennett, Gilles Brassard, Artur Ekert and Pan Jianwei){{Cite web |title=2019 Laureates |url=http://www.miciusprize.org/index/lists/003002 |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=The Micius Quantum Prize}}
• Cozzarelli Prize in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, PNAS and National Academy of Sciences (2018, with Alexey A. Melnikov, Hendrik Poulsen Nautrup, Mario Krenn, Vedran Dunjko, Markus Tiersch and Hans Briegel){{Cite journal |date=6 May 2019 |title=2018 Cozzarelli Prize recipients |url=https://www.pnas.org/post/update/2018-cozzarelli-prize-recipients |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=PNAS|last1=Null }}
• John Stewart Bell Prize for Research on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and their Applications, University of Toronto (2017, with Ronald Hanson and Sae Woo Nam){{Cite web |title=Ronald Hanson, Sae-Woo Nam and Anton Zeilinger awarded the Fifth Bell Prize |url=https://cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/bell-prize-winners/ronald-hanson-sae-woo-nam-and-anton-zeilinger-awarded-the-fifth-bell-prize/ |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=University of Toronto |language=en}}
• Silver medal of the Senate of the Czech Republic (2017){{Cite web |date=19 September 2022 |title=Stříbrné medaile předsedy Senátu |trans-title=Silver medals of the President of the Senate |url=https://www.senat.cz/cinnost/pametni_medaile/index.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919154945/https://www.senat.cz/cinnost/pametni_medaile/index.php |archive-date=19 September 2022 |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Senát PČR |language=cs}}
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected 2012){{cite news |last1=Korte |first1=Andrea |title=AAAS Fellow Anton Zeilinger Is a Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics |url=https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-fellow-anton-zeilinger-winner-nobel-prize-physics?et_rid=162180701&et_cid=4466269 |access-date=29 October 2022 |work=American Association for the Advancement of Science |date=4 October 2022 |language=en}}
• Wolf Prize in Physics, Wolf Foundation (2012, with Alain Aspect and John Clauser){{Cite web |date=2018-12-11 |title=Anton Zeilinger |url=https://wolffund.org.il/anton-zeilinger/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Wolf Foundation |language=en-US}}
• Grand Merit Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2009){{Cite web |date=2009-07-01 |title=Anton Zeilinger honoured with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany |url=https://www.iqoqi-vienna.at/detail/news/anton-zeilinger-honoured-with-the-order-of-merit-of-the-federal-republic-of-germany |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information – Vienna of the Austrian Academy of Sciences |language=en-US |quote=Anton Zeilinger was bestowed with the "Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern"}}
• Inaugural Isaac Newton Medal, Institute of Physics (2008){{Cite web |title=Isaac Newton Medal and Prize recipients |url=https://www.iop.org/about/awards/isaac-newton-medal-and-prize/isaac-newton-medal-and-prize-recipients |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=IOP}}
• Quantum Electronics Prize, European Physical Society (2007){{Cite web |title=QEOD Prizes – EPS Quantum Electronics Prizes |url=https://www.eps.org/members/group_content_view.asp?group=85201&id=315903#previous |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=European Physical Society}}
• King Faisal International Prize in physics, King Faisal Foundation (2005){{Cite web |title=All time Winners |url=http://kfip.busyduck.org/all-winners/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130811234321/http://kfip.busyduck.org/all-winners/ |archive-date=2013-08-11 |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=KFIP}}
• Descartes Prize, European Union, as member of the IST-QuComm project collaboration (2004){{Cite web |title=IST-QuComm wins the EU Descartes price 2004 |url=https://www.kth.se/en/sci/2.14290/aphys/groups/qbp/research-groups/qeo/research-qeo/ist-qucomm-wins-the-eu-descartes-price-2004-1.265769 |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=KTH Royal Institute of Technology |language=en-GB |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005215919/https://www.kth.se/en/sci/2.14290/aphys/groups/qbp/research-groups/qeo/research-qeo/ist-qucomm-wins-the-eu-descartes-price-2004-1.265769 |url-status=dead }}
• Klopsteg Memorial Award, American Association of Physics Teachers (2004){{Cite web |title=Klopsteg Memorial Lecture |url=https://www.aapt.org/Programs/awards/klopsteg.cfm |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=American Association of Physics Teachers}}
• Order Pour le Mérite for Arts and Sciences (2000){{Cite web |date=2022-08-25 |title=Verzeichnis der Mitglieder |url=https://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/sites/default/files/mg-gesamtlisten/5-OPLM-mitglieder-nach-aufnahmejahren-25-08-2022.pdf |website=Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste |page=48 |access-date=7 October 2022 |archive-date=6 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006144221/https://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/sites/default/files/mg-gesamtlisten/5-OPLM-mitglieder-nach-aufnahmejahren-25-08-2022.pdf |url-status=dead }}
• European Optics Prize, European Optical Society (1996){{Cite web |title=EOS Prize |url=https://www.europeanoptics.org/pages/distinctions/awards/eos-prize.html |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=European Optical Society |language=en}}

• Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (2024){{Cite web |date=2024-02-22 |title=Bundespräsident ehrte Nobelpreisträger Zeilinger, Handke und Kandel |url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000208692/bundespr228sident-ehrte-nobelpreistr228ger-zeilinger-handke-und-kandel |access-date=2024-02-24 |work=Der Standard |language=de}}
• Austrian Decoration for Science and Art, Republic of Austria (2001){{cite web | url = http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf | title = Reply to a parliamentary question | language = de | page = 1436 | access-date = 25 November 2012 | archive-date = 1 May 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200501061109/https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf | url-status = live }}

Zeilinger has been interviewed by Morgan Freeman in season 2 of Through the Wormhole.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1931229/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm How Does the Universe Work?]

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• {{Nobelprize}}
• [https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/Institute/IQOQI-Vienna/IMG/team/zeilinger-group/CV_Anton_Zeilinger.pdf Curriculum Vitae] of Anton Zeilinger
• {{cite web|url=http://vcq.quantum.at/research/people/details/14-anton-zeilinger.html|title=Prof. Dr. Anton Zeilinger|publisher=Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology|access-date=23 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417210753/http://vcq.quantum.at/research/people/details/14-anton-zeilinger.html|archive-date=17 April 2016|url-status=dead}}
• [http://www.univie.ac.at/qfp/publications3/pdffiles/2003-24.pdf Quantum Teleportation by Zeilinger], 2003 update of 2000 Scientific American article
• {{cite journal |author1=Hans Christian von Baeyer |author1-link=Hans Christian von Baeyer |title=In the beginning was the bit |journal=New Scientist |date=17 February 2001 |volume=169 |issue=2278 |pages=26–30 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922784-300-in-the-beginning-was-the-bit/}}
• [http://www.signandsight.com/features/614.html Spooky action and beyond] an interview with Anton Zeilinger at signandsight.com
• The lecture delivered by Professor Anton Zeilinger as the inaugural recipient of the Isaac Newton Medal, Institute of Physics, 17 June 2008, [http://www.iop.org/activity/awards/International%20Award/page_31978.html] (68 min 25 sec).
  Note: On the page linked, a second video is accommodated which shows Professor Zeilinger speaking amongst others about his personal life.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091026162953/http://www.q2cfestival.com/play.php?lecture_id=7976 Anton Zeilinger on the opening panel discussion at the Quantum to Cosmos festival] at Perimeter Institute with Katherine Freese, Leo Kadanoff, Lawrence Krauss, Neil Turok, Sean M. Carroll, Gino Segrè, Andrew White, and David Tong.
• [http://www.akademietraunkirchen.com/en/ Homepage of the International Academy Traunkirchen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219031220/http://www.akademietraunkirchen.com/en/ |date=19 December 2014 }}
• [http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/lis/7550/1.html Es stellt sich letztlich heraus, dass Information ein wesentlicher Grundbaustein der Welt ist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041115201117/http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/lis/7550/1.html |date=15 November 2004 }}, a German-language interview with Zeilinger by Andrea Naica-Loebell

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