BELL INEQUALITIES AND 2 EXPERIMENTAL TESTS WITH MERCURY

Most experimental tests of Bell inequalities have involved measurement s of correlations between two photons. One of the first. definitive ex periments involved the linear polarization correlation between two pho tons in an atomic cascade of Hg-200. That experiment will be discussed in depth in this paper. The form of the initial state density matrix was a critical part of that experiment; and the experimental and theor etical determination of the density matrix, including finite solid-ang le effects, will be discussed. However, all Bell inequality experiment s to date have two widely recognized loopholes, detector efficiency an d locality. This paper will conclude with a very brief description of an experiment that will dose both of these loopholes. In contrast to e xisting experiments with photons, this new test involves spin correlat ions between the nuclei of two Hg-199 atoms; it is an exact experiment al realization of Bohm's version of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen gedank enenperiment.