The world's smallest double slit experiment

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 63 vote(s)

To perform the experiment a supersonic jet of hydrogen (source at bottom) is ionized by a beam of x-rays from the Advanced Light Source (not shown). The doubly photoionized molecule blows apart and the protons (red) strike the detector at left while ...
To perform the experiment, a supersonic jet of hydrogen (source at bottom) is ionized by a beam of x-rays from the Advanced Light Source (not shown). The doubly photoionized molecule blows apart, and the protons (red) strike the detector at left while the electrons (blue), trapped in a magnetic field, strike the detector at right. The energy of all the particles and the original orientation of the molecule can be determined from the measured results.

The big world of classical physics mostly seems sensible: waves are waves and particles are particles, and the moon rises whether anyone watches or not. The tiny quantum world is different: particles are waves (and vice versa), and quantum systems remain in a state of multiple possibilities until they are measured -- which amounts to an intrusion by an observer from the big world -- and forced to choose: the exact position or momentum of an electron, say.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for November 09, 2007

Scientists demonstrate highly directional semiconductor lasers

9 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Applied scientists at Harvard collaborating with researchers at Hamamatsu Photonics in Hamamatsu City, Japan, have demonstrated, for the first time, highly directional semiconductor lasers ...

Proposed Particle Help Explains Odd Galactic Photons

5 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
In 2002, a satellite called INTEGRAL was launched by the European Space Agency with an instrument on board to detect and measure gamma rays from space. Four years later, it yielded some intriguing data: An unusually high ...

Electron microscopy enters the picometer scale

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Jülich scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometres using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters ...

Revolutionary materials reflect ancient forms

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although order is pleasing to the eye, it can quickly become boring. In Islamic architecture therefore, decoration often follows a strict yet aperiodic pattern. Similar structures also form ...

Shielding for ambitious neutron experiment

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimaterial. In fact, antimaterial can neither be found on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive