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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Young Double Slit Interference Effects at Quantum Level

Zehra Nur Özer, Hari Chaluvadi, Melike Ulu, Mevlüt Doğan, B. Aktaş, D. H. Madison

Published Apr 10, 2014• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The currently accepted model for quantum interference resulting from the emission of electron waves from two scattering centers induced by either light or charged particle impact is analogous to Young's emission of two light waves from two slits. In this work we show that this simple classical wave model is incomplete and that there is a more complicated quantum interference pattern for low energy ionization caused by electron impact.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/488/1/012059

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The currently accepted model for quantum interference resulting from the emission of electron waves from two scattering centers induced by either light or charged particle impact is analogous to Young's emission of two light waves from two slits. In this work we show that this simple classical wave model is incomplete and that there is a more complicated quantum interference pattern for low energy ionization caused by electron impact.
For the last 50 years, there has been considerable interest in the possibility of observing the equivalence of a Young's double-slit wave interference at the quantum level for diatomic molecules. For electron-impact ionization of diatomic molecules, indirect evidence for this type of interference has been found by changing the energy (wavelength) of the ejected electron while keeping the incident projectile scattering angle fixed. The present work represents an experimental and theoretical collaboration to better understand the physics of this type of interference. In addition to examining the effect of changing the ejected electron energy for a fixed scattered projectile angle, we have also examined the effect of keeping the ejected electron energy fixed while varying the projectile scattering angle. Model calculations are performed for three different types of possible two-center interference effects, and it is found that the most important one is diffraction of the projectile off two scattering centers.
Young's double slit interference effects for low incident energy 75.6eV75.6\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}75.6eV electron impact ionization of N2{\mathrm{N}}_{2}N2​ are investigated using the distorted-wave impulse approximation (DWIA) for both coplanar symmetric and asymmetric scattering. Although the DWIA does not predict observable interference effects for the coplanar symmetric case, it predicts some strong Young's double-slit-type interference effects for the highly asymmetric scattering case. These effects are strong enough that they should be experimentally observable if one can make measurements in the backscattering region.
There has always been a desire to understand quantum mechanics in terms of classical physics. Quantum analogues of Young's double-slit experiment from classical optics have been fundamental to our understanding of the wave nature of particles and double-slit interference patterns have been observed with beams of electrons and atoms. Now, Michael Noel and Carlos Stroud of the University of Rochester in the US have observed double- slit-like interference phenomena in electron wave packets within a single atom (M W Noel and C S Stroud 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 1252).
Evidence is given for Young-type interferences caused by a single electron acting on a given double-center scatterer analogous to an atomic-size double-slit system. The electron is provided by autoionization of a doubly excited He atom following the capture of the electrons of H2 by a He2+ incoming ion. The autoionizing projectile is a single-electron source, independent of the interferometer provided by the two H+ centers of the fully ionized H2 molecule. This experiment resembles the famous thought experiment imagined by Feynman in 1963, in which the quantum nature of the electron is illustrated from a Young-like double-slit experiment. Well-defined oscillations are visible in the angular distribution of the scattered electrons, showing that each electron interferes with itself.
Young’s double-slit experiment played a crucial role in establishing the wave nature of light. In this chapter, the shocking result that incident electrons yield a similar interference pattern as that formed by light waves is described. It is shown that the only way the experimental results could be explained is via a wave function description of electrons. It is also shown that, in the same experiment, the interference fringes disappear if the which-path information becomes available. This is the essence of wave–particle duality. The first of the Einstein–Bohr debates on wave-particle duality and Bohr’s principle of complementarity in the double-slit experiment is also discussed. Also presented are the counterintuitive notions of delayed choice and quantum eraser effects showing how the availability or erasure of information generated in the future can affect how the data in the present can be interpreted.
Interferences caused by a single electron impacting on an independent double-center scatterer, which plays the role of an atomic-size double-slit system, are experimentally evidenced for the first time. The electron originates from the autoionization of doubly excited 2 l n l ' (n ⩾ 2) configurations of He following a double charge exchange process by He 2+ ions impinging on H 2 molecules. Well-defined oscillations are visible in the angular distribution of the electrons emitted towards the receding H + protons. The presence of these oscillations demonstrates that a single electron interferes with itself. This is analogous to the famous "thought" experiment imagined and discussed by Feynman in 1963, in which the quantum nature of the electron was illustrated by making it traverse an atomic-size double-slit arrangement.