Slit Definition and 1000 Threads

Hi. I've seen single slit diffraction being brought up as an example of the uncertainty principle: Narrowing the slit restricts the particles more in one dimension, which means the momentum in this dimension is more uncertain, which results in a more spread-out diffraction pattern. I've even...

When you do the double slit experiment with photons or electrons you get a wave pattern. At certain points no electrons are detected. This is said to be caused by destructive interference. Destructive interference of what? If we shoot single electrons, one at a time, from where is this...

Hello! I was trying to calculate the amplitude of the secondary maximums in the single slit diffraction. When I use the formula: $$ I = I_0 (\frac {sin(\Delta \phi /2)} {\Delta \phi /2})^2 $$ If I take ## x = \Delta \phi /2 ## and derivate I get that the maximum occurs when: $$ x = tan(x) $$...

How detectors/observers in front of each slit works , does it somehow disturb with electron/photon? Does photon/electron must pass through detector/observer, so maybe his internal parts change final result on screen into just two lines?

Examples that have references to special two slit experiments : https://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/presentations/single-photon-interference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment If you have an opinion on what you think the experiments tend to support and what they do...

This paper claims that the double slit experiment can be used to distinguish between QM interpretations: https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02641 IMO, the paper goes astray right at the start, when it points out that time is a parameter in the Schrodinger equation, not an operator, so that equation...

Electrons are shot thru two slits separated by a distance s at a screen a distance ##z_0## away. The wave function for the particles is proportional to ## e^{ik \sqrt{(x-s/2)^2+z_0^2}} +e^{ik \sqrt{(x+s/2)^2+z_0^2}}## Taking the first one, we can manipulate the square root algebraically...

Is it possible to tell which slit some of the light went through when the slits aren’t parallel (green & red boxes in option 3)? I used a Bahtinov mask to cover the aperture of my 600mm f/9 lens while observing the star Polaris. Various open slits were tested while others were covered with...

I was reading Feynman's lecture on the double-slit experiment, the attempts to determine which slit an electron passes through. https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_01.html#Ch1-S6 And the key part is when Feynman says, "Then a terrible thing happens.", about the low optical resolutions...

I can't find the anwer on this anywhere, so I hope I may ask it here. My question: In a standard double slit experiment, according to the Many Worlds Interpretation, does the photon create different worlds with different impact locations of the photon? So, without measuring which way...

Hello, I have a little problem understanding Young's slit experiment with single photons : I have understood for a long time that each photon impact on the screen corresponds to a photon sent by the source, and that, if we don't try to find out by which path the photon has passed, of course...

A bit of background: I've read Derive the probability of spin at arbitrary angle is cos( ) | Physics Forums post in this forum and went into a "thought rabbit hole". It didn't make any sense to me and I think I made a wrong assumption somewhere along the way. Instead of typing everything out, I...

ATTEMPT AT SOLUTION The effect on the pattern when the screen is moved further away is the bright fringes would become wider, the light intensity of the bright fringes would decrease, and the bright fringes will appear closer together. REASONING I answered this question based on how light...

Consider a Double Slits experiment in which the light source is monochromatic and each slit very narrow. There will be many fringes visible on either side of the axis. 1) If the light source is pulsed with very short, randomly spaced, pulses it will produce spectrally broadened radiation and...

Here is the solution, I understand how they got E, but I don’t see how they could get E’ from cosine addition formulas? I don’t need to know how to do it with complex numbers.

This is a simple experiment that demonstrates how it is possible to draw conclusions similar to those of quantum physics, without having to "invade" the microscopic world. A student is led into a windowless room, which has only a slit in the ceiling. The light that passes through the slit is...

Hi Pfq My question is about this experiment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68181-1 (the link was given by DrChinese. If all the impacts are conserved no interference can be seen on the screens. but if we only take the impacts (Y, yi) where Y is always at the same position on the...

I think that it is harder to describe the two slits Young experiment in terms of hamiltonian because the particle has a constraint: to pass through the slits. is it possible? thanks.

Do I see an interference pattern on a interference screen in Double slit experiment if there is a detector watching which slit photon went trough but the observer does not see the result of detector measurement? Thanks :]

What is the significance of the double slit experiment? When I first learned about it I thought the human observer decided the outcome. But I guess a human observer isn't even needed and therefore a conscious mind is just as irrelevant. What does it prove that an outcome is neither one thing or...

Do wavefunctions collapse when looked at? Or does observe mean something else? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05892-6 This article is where my information is from, physicists talking about how our mind causes the collapse.

Hi Pfs, I know that Young made his double slits experiment with sunlight and i would like to know the best value of the fringe visibility on the screen. The visibility is equal to (Imax - Imin)/(Imax + Imin) thanks

In a single slit diffraction experiment, when we want to calculate the intensity of light on a screen located very far away from the slit, usually Huygens' principle is adopted as a model to perform the calculations. It is assumed that the width of the slit consists of an infinite number of...

With the double slit experiment the first thing I have to ask that is never explained, is why would an electron not always go through one slit? One does not design a gun to fire randomly over an area, but to be fairly precise and accurate in it's firing. Is there an assumption of the firing...

I want to ask several questions regarding to the text: 1) Why do we find the minima of the diffraction? Why not the maxima?2) "Figure 25.32b shows two rays that represent the propagation of two wavelets: one from the top edge of the slit and one from exactly halfway down" Why do we take point...

David Deutsch is a well known proponent of the Many Worlds Interpretation. His argument seems to be that a single photon in the double slit experiment must be interfering with one from another world. It is commonly held by physicists that the the photon, as a wave going through double slits, can...

I'm looking for a good derivation of the "wave" patterns in this experiment. I suppose that if wave-particle duality is an obsolete idea, there must be a derivation from quantum mechanics that gets close results. Thanks in advance

Not a physicist. Background is in electronics over many years. Have recently been "binge" watching youtube lectures on the "dreaded" QUANTUM MECHANICS by various people(Susskind, Feynman et al) and trying to comprehend the whole thing. While I can generally follow the lectures I must admit the...

emitter -> double slit -> double slit -> detector. Was an experiment ever made where two double slits are placed at some distance between each other? What kind of interference pattern would you get? What would happen if second slits were placed at the position where there is destructive...

Hi. As i understand in double slit experiment photon can arrive at slits through different paths (longer and shorter) and it would still show interference pattern. My question is - if there was some path cutting device in a way of photon (on longest path after length that photon arrive at...

Given values : - Distance between the slit source and the screen L - d1,d2 The problem is to detemine the color of the two lights

In the double slit experiment, are there articles that study different slit properties (e.g. charges, magnetic fields, current, etc.)? Curious if a wave is the property of the measurement, changing the properties of the experiment may alter the output measurement.

Our eyes not only detect the visible spectrum of light; they can also show the direction the photons are coming from. If, instead of a detecting screen, we use a moving camera or an array of cameras, can't we tell exactly which slit a photon / electron passed through?When viewing a light source...

If you perform a double slit experiment but never look at the results could we say that the experiment never actually happened? The beginning of the experiment would show intention to find results but we believe intention does not create physical reality. Quantum Eraser could be preventing us...

So I thought angle=wavelength/width of slit But when I solve for the width I got the wrong answer of 4567 nm, when the answer is suppose to be 130881 nm. I figured out that I needed to multiply my incorrect answer by 28.7, but where does this constant come from? Its not part of the equation...

Monochromatic light is normally incident on a diffraction grating. The mth order line is at an angle of diffraction angle θ and has width w. A wide single slit is now placed in front of the grating and its width is then slowly reduced. As a result: A. both θ and w increase B. both θ and w...

i feel like subbing the numbers into the equation isn't enough because of the second minima and maxima thing? not sure what to do... would appreciate any help.

How is the measurement of which path the particle took done for the double slit experiment? When electrons are being sent through the slit. Or when photons are being sent through the slit. Is it an active process or a passive process? I haven't seen an explanation for this and perhaps this...

$$Δφ = 2π \frac{L_2 - L_1}{λ}$$ $$Δφ = 2π \frac{\sqrt{0.016^2+10^2}-\sqrt{0.014^2+10^2}}{560*10^{-9}}$$ $$Δφ = 33.659 rad$$Answer = 2.24 rad (unsure if the answer provided is correct/wrong)

I am a big fan of Ballentine's book on QM and was reading the discussions about the Ensemble Interpretation. Although, I am not an expert on these matters I reject the idea of the wave function collapse as a fundamental postulate of QM. Instead, I've come to the conclusion that we don't...

How far apart can the slits be and the double slit experiment still works i.e the wave interference pattern is seen on the target screen?

Firstly I’m just an interested layman who only started delving into QM and physics later on on life. So please forgive my ignorance. One of the things I’m trying to understand better is the wave / particle duality nature of objects. In the classical set up where single electrons are fired one...

Hi, Could you please help me with the queries below? Thanks in advance! Question 1: I was watching this video. Between 8:36 to 9:44 the following is said: "But only firing particle by single particle at this barrier with the 2 openings and by recording dot by single dot where each of those...

I'm trying to think of a how the double slit experiment can detect a photon without interacting with it in theory. In principal (not reality of course) does a photon have a gravitational signature which could be used to detect which slit it traveled through during the double slit experiment...

I have been seeing interference and diffraction problems involving the double slit and single slit equations that ask for things like the "highest order maxima" or minima, which I have learned are basically found by setting the angle to 90 degrees. My question is are there any real world...

Hello, Its been a while since I'm trying to understand the concept of the pilot wave theory and it's relation with the deBroglie wave. What is the fundamental difference between the two? My confusion comes from the double slit experiment. The velocity of the deBroglie wave is c^2/v so I...

With the double slit, experiment we show the double nature of light and matter as wave and particle. In particular, the so called "which way" thought experiment illustrate the complementary principle. In my book, this experiment is analyzed putting a series of particles in front of one of the...

For a setup analogous to double-slit experiment, do I understand it correctly that if we have two photons, one going only through slit A and another going only through slit B simultaneously (or vice versa as they have a symmetrical wave function), then there will be no interference pattern...

In the traditional single electron duel slit experiment, I assume a cathode emits electrons in an unfocused direction spreading across the dual slits like a flashlight beam, but one electron at a time. Electrons however can be finely focused and controlled using magnetic or electric fields...

How did you find PF?: A quick Google search of Physics forum gave me a link to this site. I have a good background in science (BSC Mathematics), but not specifically in Quantum theory. That happened after I left University. I have read lots, know a fair bit but wouldn't dare to claim I...