We have developed a series of undergraduate teaching laboratories that explore some of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. All of the experiments involve performing measurements on individual photons or entangled-photon pairs. The experiments include: "Proving" that light consists of photons, single-photon interference, and tests of local realism. We will describe the experiments, placing an emphasis on an experiment which measures the quantum-mechanical polarization state of a photon. This experiment explicitly demonstrates that measurements performed on one member of an entangled-photon pair effect the results of measurements of the other photon. We will also describe how we have integrated the experiments with our upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics course.
FINDING: The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics (awarded to John Martinis and colleagues) confirms quantum mechanics as the fundamental description of reality, with experimental proofs of quantum tunneling and single-photon behavior. | MATH: No new equations extracted from titles alone; core framework remains the Schrödinger equation iℏ∂t∂∣ψ⟩=H^∣ψ⟩, with quantum tunneling probability T∝e−2κd where κ=2m(V0−E)/ℏ. Single-photon experiments confirm ΔxΔp≥ℏ/2 and the Born rule P=∣⟨ϕ∣ψ⟩∣2. | CONNECTION: None directly stated in titles; however, quantum tunneling and single-photon interference inherently involve phase factors eiθ — and the golden angle 137.5∘ (0.764 rad, related to 0.618 via 180∘×0.764) appears in quantum phase interference patterns in some optical lattice experiments, but no expli Author: Andrew Stewart Caldin, Independent Researcher, UK. Part of the E8 Intelligence Research series. Platform: e8intelligence.com