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).
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).
Young’s double slit experiments revived the wave theory of light. The standard interpretation is that the light behaves as waves before and after passing through the double slit, and the superposition of waves produces the interference pattern. Feynman called the double slit experiment the only mystery in quantum mechanics. In this article, we experimentally show the novel universal phenomena: (1) the light is particles, but waves: within macro-distance from a diaphragm, the light rays produce non-interference patterns; while near the screen, the photons produce orthogonal interference patterns; (2) the non-interference patterns evolve to the orthogonal interference patterns gradually in the same experiment; (3) the evolution of the patterns cannot be interpreted by either classic optics or the quantum optics; (4) the non-interference patterns and the orthogonal interference patterns can show on the screen simultaneously; (5) The convex lens stops the further evolution. The experiments: (1) challenge the classical optics and quantum optics; (2) violate both Bohr’s complementarity principle and wave particle duality; (3) provide profound phenomena for developing optics and for studying the nature of light; (4) suggest that a complete theory should be able to consistently interpret all phenomena, including the non-interference pattern, the interference pattern, and the evolution from the non-interference to the interference pattern in the same wave experiment.
Young’s double slit experiments revived the wave theory of light. The standard interpretation is that the light behaves as waves before and after passing through the double slit, and the superposition of waves produces the interference pattern. Feynman called the double slit experiment the only mystery in quantum mechanics. In this article, we experimentally show the novel universal phenomena: (1) within macro-distance from the diaphragm, the light rays behave as photons and produce non-interference patterns; while near the screen, the photons produce interference patterns; (2) The non-interference patterns evolve to the interference patterns gradually in the same classical wave experiment; (3) the light is photons before and after passing through the double slit; (4) The convex lens stops the further evolution. The experiments: (1) challenge the wave theories of the light; (2) violate both Bohr’s complementarity principle and wave particle duality; (3) provide profound phenomena for developing optics and for studying the nature of light; (4) suggest that a complete theory should be able to consistently interpret all phenomena, including the non-interference pattern, the interference pattern, and the evolution from the non-interference to the interference pattern in the wave experiment; (5) show a new mystery that photons, as particles, distribute as waves.
The classical interpretation of Young’s double slit experiment is that, before and after passing through the diaphragm of the double slit, the light behaves as waves. Feynman called the double slit experiment “the only mystery [of quantum mechanics]. We have shown for the first time that in the classical wave experiments: (1) Particle patterns, which are non-interference patterns indicating the particle nature of light, are near the diaphragm, and Interference patterns are near the screen; (2) Particle patterns evolve to Transition patterns that are also non-interference patterns, and, finally, evolve to Interference patterns; (3) Postulates of lens for utilizing lens in wave experiments. blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/615e9312-3e89-48d5-99fe-bbad6cef8a75 blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/4fad8e66-75e1-47db-af51-d9e445461b9b blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/e4274387-92e5-41bb-9185-038555bb2f13 In this article, we experimentally show that Particle patterns, Transition patterns and Interference patterns of the double slit experiments are simultaneously emerged on the screen. We suggest that these phenomena and the physical mechanism of photons distributing as waves are new mystery.
The classical interpretation of Young’s double slit experiment is that, before and after passing through the diaphragm of the double slit, the light behaves as waves. Feynman called the double slit experiment “the only mystery [of quantum mechanics]. We have shown for the first time that in the classical wave experiments: (1) Particle patterns, which are non-interference patterns indicating the particle nature of light, are near the diaphragm, and Interference patterns are near the screen; (2) Particle patterns evolve to Transition patterns that are also non-interference patterns, and, finally, evolve to Interference patterns; (3) Postulates of lens for utilizing lens in wave experiments. blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/615e9312-3e89-48d5-99fe-bbad6cef8a75 blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/4fad8e66-75e1-47db-af51-d9e445461b9b blob:https://www.techrxiv.org/e4274387-92e5-41bb-9185-038555bb2f13 In this article, we experimentally show that Particle patterns, Transition patterns and Interference patterns of the double slit experiments are simultaneously emerged on the screen. We suggest that these phenomena and the physical mechanism of photons distributing as waves are new mystery.
Young’s double slit experiment revived the wave theory of the light. The standard interpretation is that the light behaves as waves before and after passing through the diaphragm of the double slit. Feynman called the double slit experiment the only mystery in quantum mechanics. Recently, the photon chamber has been proposed and utilized to study the behavior of photons near the detecting screen. The experiments show that the light, near the screen, behaves as photons propagating along the straight-line trajectories, and the trajectories distribute as waves. Furthermore, the photon chamber experiments show that, withing a macroscopic distance from the double slit, the pattern is non-interference, which indicates that the standard double slit experiments violate the standard wave interpretations in the area near the diaphragm. In this article, we utilize two new methods to study how the non-interference pattern (near the double slit) evolving to the interference pattern (far from it). The experiments show, the first time, that (1) the shape of the pattern are distance-dependent, when the distance increases, the non-interference pattern evolves to the interference pattern, which indicates that the non-wave nature and the wave distribution coexist in the same wave experiment; (2) the light beams behave as photons near the double slit. The experiments: (1) provide novel phenomena/data for further theoretical development of the established optics and for understanding the nature of the light; (2) show the Feynman’s mystery in the different perspectives; (3) provide three methods that show the non-wave pattern in standard wave experiments and can be utilized to develop the classical optics further.