Nonmaximal entanglement of photons from positron-electron annihilation demonstrated using a plastic PET scanner
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 photons from direct and parapositronium annihilations are maximally entangled. Our result indicates that the degree of entanglement depends on the annihilation mechanism in matter, opening avenues for exploring polarization correlations in PET as a diagnostic indicator.
Authors
- T. Kaplanoglu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9404-8501)
- D. Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5577-8931)
- Martin Rädler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3313-2993)
- Catalina Curceanu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1990-0127)
- Keyvan Tayefi Ardebili (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8764-1588)
- M. Skurzok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4794-5154)
- E. Czerwiński (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5076-3175)
- Edward Lisowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7437-7391)
- Marek Gorgol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5406-362X)
- Szymon Niedźwiecki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5953-9479)
- Paweł Moskal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4229-3548)
- E. Y. Beyene (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8757-2169)
- B. Jasinska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1303-8537)
- Manish Das (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2901-1745)
- Kavya Valsan Eliyan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1636-3706)
- Aurélien Coussat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8336-7056)
- T. Kozik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8131-5674)
- S. Parzych (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3049-2267)
- P. Tanty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7376-9650)
- Ł. Kapłon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2203-0425)
- K. Dulski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4093-8162)
- N. Chug (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6496-0866)
- E. Pérez del Río (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7761-4084)
- K. Kacprzak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-4449)
- Ewa Łucja Stępień (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-1715)
- W. Mryka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7616-8290)
- S. Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8947-0110)
- Filip Lisowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3494-1875)
Institutions
- Jagiellonian University (PL)
- Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (PL)
- Cracow University of Technology (PL)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2025-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads3046
- Citations
- 21
- Primary Topic
- Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 39.54