Elastic and inelastic electrons in the double-slit experiment: A variant of Feynman's which-way set-up

Frabboni, Stefano; Gazzadi, Gian Carlo; Grillo, Vincenzo; Pozzi, Giulio

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.03.006

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…carrying no orbital angular momentum) can experience the microscopic chirality of geometrically symmetric samples owing to the combination of electron lateral quantum smearing with the spatial asymmetry of the electromagnetic interaction. Matter chirality breaks mirror symmetry of electron quantum decoherence, an effect detectable through bi-prism electron holography [40,41] or in a two-slits interference experiment [42,43]. This result is in agreement with the fact that the spatial coherence of inelastically scattered electrons is highly correlated to the optical properties of the sample.…”

supporting

confidence: 69%

Fast electrons interacting with chiral matter: mirror symmetry breaking of quantum decoherence and lateral momentum transfer

Ciattoni¹

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

supporting

confidence: 69%

Fast electrons interacting with chiral matter: mirror symmetry breaking of quantum decoherence and lateral momentum transfer

Ciattoni¹

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The Zhou-Wang-Mandel apparatus is a two way, single photon interference setup where which way information is collected without any physical interaction with the photon arriving at the detector where interference is revealed, through a clever use of nonlinear crystals. The setup is essentially analogous to a two slit experiment with the possibility of placing or removing an ideal detector, which detects the passage of the quantum object at one of the slits, ideally without perturbing it [57]. The discussion of the Zhou-Wang-Mandel experiment plays a crucial role in our sequence: we complete the picture of wave particle duality by treating the consequences of which way measurements, and clarifying the difference between indistinguishable processes (for which the quantum probability rule is used) and distinguishable ones (which obey the classical probability rule).…”

Section: Conceptual and Foundational Aspects (I)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Test on the effectiveness of the sum over paths approach in favoring the construction of an integrated knowledge of quantum physics in high school

Malgieri

Onorato

Ambrosis

2017

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper we present the results of a research-based teaching-learning sequence on introductory quantum physics based on Feynman's sum over paths approach in the Italian high school. Our study focuses on students' understanding of two founding ideas of quantum physics, wave particle duality and the uncertainty principle. In view of recent research reporting the fragmentation of students' mental models of quantum concepts after initial instruction, we collected and analyzed data using the assessment tools provided by knowledge integration theory. Our results on the group of n ¼ 14 students who performed the final test indicate that the functional explanation of wave particle duality provided by the sum over paths approach may be effective in leading students to build consistent mental models of quantum objects, and in providing them with a unified perspective on both the photon and the electron. Results on the uncertainty principle are less clear cut, as the improvements over traditional instruction appear less significant. Given the low number of students in the sample, this work should be interpreted as a case study, and we do not attempt to draw definitive conclusions. However, our study suggests that (i) the sum over paths approach may deserve more attention from researchers and educators as a possible route to introduce basic concepts of quantum physics in high school, and (ii) more research should be focused not only on the correctness of students' mental models on individual concepts, but also on the ability of students to connect different ideas and experiments related to quantum theory in an organized whole.

show abstract

“…The third part of the Young-Feynman experiment, which has subsequently been renamed the which-way (or which-path ) experiment, aims at demonstrating that interference phenomena disappear when the setup is modified to obtain information about which slit the electron passes through. First experiments in this direction have been carried out by preparing nano-slits and depositing a layer of amorphous material using modern nanotechnology tools on one 18 or both 19 of them. Inelastic scattering in the material can be regarded as a dissipative process during the interaction, which is responsible for the localization mechanism 20,21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Young-Feynman controlled double-slit electron interference experiment

Tavabi

Boothroyd

Yücelen

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The key features of quantum mechanics are vividly illustrated by the Young-Feynman two-slit thought experiment, whose second part discusses the recording of an electron distribution with one of the two slits partially or totally closed by an aperture. Here, we realize the original Feynman proposal in a modern electron microscope equipped with a high brightness gun and two biprisms, with one of the biprisms used as a mask. By exciting the microscope lenses to conjugate the biprism plane with the slit plane, observations are carried out in the Fraunhofer plane with nearly ideal control of the covering of one of the slits. A second, new experiment is also presented, in which interference phenomena due to partial overlap of the slits are observed in the image plane. This condition is obtained by inserting the second biprism between the two slits and the first biprism and by biasing it in order to overlap their images.

show abstract

Elastic and inelastic electrons in the double-slit experiment: A variant of Feynman's which-way set-up

Cited by 10 publications

References 24 publications

Fast electrons interacting with chiral matter: mirror symmetry breaking of quantum decoherence and lateral momentum transfer

Fast electrons interacting with chiral matter: mirror symmetry breaking of quantum decoherence and lateral momentum transfer

Test on the effectiveness of the sum over paths approach in favoring the construction of an integrated knowledge of quantum physics in high school

The Young-Feynman controlled double-slit electron interference experiment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About