A double-slit ‘which-way’ experiment on the complementarity—uncertainty debate

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version
Author(s)
Mir, R
Lundeen, JS
Mitchell, MW
Steinberg, AM
Garretson, JL
Wiseman, HM
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2007
Size

867886 bytes

File type(s)

application/pdf

Location
License
Abstract

A which-way measurement in Young's double-slit will destroy the interference pattern. Bohr claimed this complementarity between wave- and particle-behaviour is enforced by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: distinguishing two positions at a distance s apart transfers a random momentum q ~ hbar/s to the particle. This claim has been subject to debate: Scully et al (1991 Nature 351 111) asserted that in some situations interference can be destroyed with no momentum transfer, while Storey et al (1994 Nature 367 626) asserted that Bohr's stance is always valid. We address this issue using the experimental technique of weak measurement. We measure a distribution for q that spreads well beyond [−hbar/s, hbar/s], but nevertheless has a variance consistent with zero. This weak-valued momentum-transfer distribution Pwv(q) thus reflects both sides of the debate.

Journal Title

New Journal of Physics

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

9

Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2007 Institute of Physics Publishing. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.

Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Physical sciences

Persistent link to this record
Citation
Collections