Friday, February 5, 2010

Is it true that we can influence the outcome of double slit experiment with subatomic particles?

i think i understand what you are asking - it's about trying to figure out how particles can also be waves.





in a diffraction experiment, effectively the waves are going through all slits and interfering afterwards. if the individual particles are measured, then of course the particle can only go through one slit.





one example of an attempt to subvert this was by by using radioactive particles. in principle, measuring the radiactive decay of the particle in flight tells you what slit the particle went through - is there still an interference pattern?





i remember reading about this experiment a few years ago but i am havign a hard time finding the link. if i find it i will edit this post... cheersIs it true that we can influence the outcome of double slit experiment with subatomic particles?
I'm not sure what you mean by ';influence the outcome';. The double slit experiment can be done with subatomic particles, and you should get proportionally the same results. It can be done with photons, electrons, protons, etc.





A. Zeilinger did it with fullerens (60-, 70- atoms), and W. Ketterle interfered two condensates (10^5-10^6) of rubidium atoms.





But it does take different equipment for each type of particle, because the particles have different wavelengths.

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