Entanglement transfer through the turbulent atmosphere

The propagation of polarization-entangled states of light through fluctuating loss channels in the turbulent atmosphere is studied, including the situation of strong losses. We consider violations of Bell inequalities by light, emitted by a parametric down-conversion source, after transmission through the turbulent atmosphere. It is shown by analytical calculations that, in the presence of background radiation and dark counts, fluctuating loss channels may preserve entanglement properties of light even better than standard loss channels, when postselected measurements are applied.