Quantum mechanics is a part of physics where experiment and theory are inseparably intertwined. This general theme permeates the 2nd edition of this book. It discusses more than 40 neutron interferometry experiments along with their theoretical motivations and explanations. The basic ideas and results of interference experiments related to coherence and decoherence of matter waves and certain post-selection variations, gravitationally induced quantum phase shifts, Berry’s geometrical phases, spinor symmetry and spin superposition, and Bell’s inequalities are all discussed in this book. Both the scalar and vector Aharonov-Bohm topological interference effects and the neutron version of the Sagnac effect are presented in a self-contained and pedagogical way. Interferometry with perfect crystals, artificial lattices, and spin-echo systems are described in some detail. The book includes the theoretical underpinning as well as connections to other areas of experimental physics, such as quantum optics, nuclear physics, gravitation, and atom interferometry. The observed phase shifts due to the Earth’s gravity and rotation indicate a close connection to relativity theory. Neutron interferometry can be considered as a central technique of quantum optics with massive particles. It has stimulated the development of interferometry with atoms, molecules, and clusters. Quantum interference experiments with massive particles have direct consequences on the discussion of epistemological questions since they show explicitly the wave-particle duality, and the entanglement and the contextuality of various parameters governing our modern view of nature.
Quantum mechanics is a part of physics where experiment and theory are inseparably intertwined. This general theme permeates the 2nd edition of this book. It discusses more than 40 neutron interferometry experiments along with their theoretical motivations and explanations. The basic ideas and results of interference experiments related to coherence and decoherence of matter waves and certain post-selection variations, gravitationally induced quantum phase shifts, Berry’s geometrical phases, spinor symmetry and spin superposition, and Bell’s inequalities are all discussed in this book. Both the scalar and vector Aharonov-Bohm topological interference effects and the neutron version of the Sagnac effect are presented in a self-contained and pedagogical way. Interferometry with perfect crystals, artificial lattices, and spin-echo systems are described in some detail. The book includes the theoretical underpinning as well as connections to other areas of experimental physics, such as quantum optics, nuclear physics, gravitation, and atom interferometry. The observed phase shifts due to the Earth’s gravity and rotation indicate a close connection to relativity theory. Neutron interferometry can be considered as a central technique of quantum optics with massive particles. It has stimulated the development of interferometry with atoms, molecules, and clusters. Quantum interference experiments with massive particles have direct consequences on the discussion of epistemological questions since they show explicitly the wave-particle duality, and the entanglement and the contextuality of various parameters governing our modern view of nature.
Abstract Quantum mechanics is a part of physics where experiment and theory are inseparably intertwined. This general theme permeates the 2nd edition of this book. It discusses more than 40 neutron interferometry experiments along with their theoretical motivations and explanations. The basic ideas and results of interference experiments related to coherence and decoherence of matter waves and certain post-selection variations, gravitationally induced quantum phase shifts, Berry's geometrical phases, spinor symmetry and spin superposition, and Bell's inequalities are all discussed in this book. Both the scalar and vector Aharonov-Bohm topological interference effects and the neutron version of the Sagnac effect are presented in a self-contained and pedagogical way. Interferometry with perfect crystals, artificial lattices, and spin-echo systems are described in some detail. The book includes the theoretical underpinning as well as connections to other areas of experimental physics, such as quantum optics, nuclear physics, gravitation, and atom interferometry. The observed phase shifts due to the Earth's gravity and rotation indicate a close connection to relativity theory. Neutron interferometry can be considered as a central technique of quantum optics with massive particles. It has stimulated the development of interferometry with atoms, molecules, and clusters. Quantum interference experiments with massive particles have direct consequences on the discussion of epistemological questions since they show explicitly the wave-particle duality, and the entanglement and the contextuality of various parameters governing our modern view of nature.
The quantum interference of de Broglie matter waves is probably one of the most startling and fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. It continues to tax our imaginations and leads us to new experimental windows on nature. Quantum interference phenomena are vividly displayed in the wide assembly of neutron interferometry experiments, which have been carried out since the first demonstration of a perfect silicon crystal interferometer in 1974. Since the neutron experiences all four fundamental forces of nature (strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational), interferometry with neutrons provides a fertile testing ground for theory and precision measurements. Many Gedanken experiments of quantum mechanics have become real due to neutron interferometry. Quantum mechanics is a part of physics where experiment and theory are inseparably intertwined. This general theme permeates the second edition of this book. It discusses more than 40 neutron interferometry experiments along with their theoretical motivations and explanations. The basic ideas and results of interference experiments related to coherence and decoherence of matter waves and certain post-selection variations, gravitationally induced quantum phase shifts, Berry's geometrical phases, spinor symmetry and spin superposition, and Bell's inequalities are all discussed and explained in this book. Both the scalar and vector Aharonov-Bohm topological interference effects and the neutron version of the Sagnac effect are presented in a self-contained and pedagogical way. Interferometry with perfect crystals, artificial lattices, and spin-echo systems are also topics of this book. It includes the theoretical underpinning as well as connections to other areas of experimental physics, such as quantum optics, nuclear physics, gravitation, and atom interferometry. The observed phase shifts due to the Earth's gravity and rotation indicate a close connection to relativity theory. Neutron interferometry can be considered as a central technique of quantum optics with massive particles. It has stimulated the development of interferometry with atoms, molecules and clusters. The book is written in a style that will be suitable at the senior undergraduate and beginning of graduate level. It will interest and excite many students and researchers in neutron, nuclear, quantum, gravitational, optical, and atomic physics. Lecturers teaching courses in modern physics and quantum mechanics will find a number of interesting and historic experiments they may want to include in their lectures.
Abstract The quantum interference of DeBroglie matter waves is probably one of the most startling and fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics. It continues to tax our imaginations and leads us to new experimental windows on nature. Quantum interference phenomena are vividly displayed in the wide assembly of neutron interferometry experiments, which have been carried out since the first demonstration of a perfect silicon crystal interferometer in 1974. Since the neutron experiences all four fundamental forces of nature (strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational), interferometry with neutrons provides a fertile testing ground for theory and precision measurements. Many Gedanken experiments of quantum mechanics have become real due to neutron interferometry. This book provides the reader with a detailed account of neutron interferometry experiments. The basic ideas and experiments related to coherence properties of matter waves and various post-selection criteria, gravitationally induced phase shifts, Berry's geometrical phase, spinor symmetry and spin superposition, Aharonov-Bohm topological interference effects, and the neutron version of the Sagnac effect are presented in a self-contained and pedagogical way. Interferometry with perfect crystals, artificial lattices, and spin-echo systems are topics of this book. It includes the theoretical motivations as well as connections to other areas of experimental physics, such as quantum optics, nuclear physics, gravitation, and atom interferometry. The book is written in a style that will be suitable at the beginning graduate level, and will excite many students and researchers in neutron physics, quantum optics, and atomic physics. Lecturers teaching courses in modern physics and quantum mechanics will find a number of interesting and historic experiments they may want to include in their lectures.
The first successful operation of a perfect crystal neutron interferometer by Rauch, Treimer and Bonse (1974) in Vienna opened up new vistas; intricate quantum mechanical concepts that could only be dealt with in thought experiments during the Einstein-Bohr era, now became accessible to direct tests in the laboratory. In the following decade, Helmut Rauch and co-workers implemented interferometric verifications of 4π spinor symmetry, up-down spin superposition and stochastic versus deterministic absorption. On the other side of the Atlantic, Colella, Overhauser and Werner (COW 1975) made the first observation of a quantal phase produced by the weak force of gravity. Samuel Werner and co-workers proceeded to observe the Sagnac, AC and scalar AB effects. The field proliferated and became the subject matter of several conferences and review articles. A book on the topic, however, was not yet available. The two stalwarts, Rauch and Werner, have now spent four painstaking years writing Neutron Interferometry: Lessons in Experimental Quantum Mechanics, a `yearbook' comprising 365 pages of documentation followed by a 25-page reference list. The book presents this advanced subject from the experimenter's viewpoint, in keeping with the latter half of its title, at an elementary level suitable for graduate students. For teachers and researchers, the book should serve as a ready-reference reckoner for the broad range of topics covered. The book begins by bringing out the analogy between neutron optics and photon optics, illustrated with results of milestone neutron experiments. It surveys various types of neutron interferometers, providing details of perfect crystal interferometer set-ups at ILL, MURR and NIST. All known interactions of the neutron are succinctly reviewed and their observations described. Coherence properties of neutron beams are characterized in the light of partial beam detection and post-selection experiments. An in-depth portrayal of Rauch and Werner's own experiments, whether verifying counterintuitive quantal phenomena such as the up-down spin superposition, the AC and scalar AB effects or observing phases originating from the Earth's gravitation and rotation and from longitudinal and transverse motion of the medium, is made with insight. The first experimental separation of geometric and dynamical phases as well as the observation of noncyclic phases and amplitudes are briefly touched upon. The book provides a gist of interferometric tests of quantum features ranging from linearity of the Schrodinger equation to Bell nonlocality. Applications to condensed matter physics, neutron diffraction in single crystals and various interpretations of quantum mechanics are also described. Numerous references to related fields, e.g. atom interferometry, nuclear physics, general relativity and geometric phase, have been cited for the interested reader. It is a pity that such a beautiful book is not free of blemishes. The book credits the Vienna group (1997) with a direct polarimetric(!) verification of Pauli anticommutation (p 75), though polarimetry is incapable of sensing a π phase shift implied by anticommutation. Rauch and Werner persist with the Vienna group's incorrect claims on geometric phase, made in 1990 (p 206), 1994 (pp 186, 203) and 1996 (p 15, pp 206-10). The list of neutron interferometry experiments (p 15) is known within the interference community as the USA [Uncle Sam (Werner)'s Ad]. While incorrectly including the Vienna-Berlin (1996) work as a `topological phase' observation, the list leaves out several landmark achievements of neutron interferometry. The first direct verification of Pauli anticommutation (1997) and the first observation of Pancharatnam amplitudes and phases in noncyclic evolutions (1998) are just two of the glaring omissions. The 1993 erratum (Phys. Rev. Lett. 70 250) to the Missouri-Melbourne (1992) paper (p 194) on the scalar AB effect is conspicuous by its absence. The book cites a 1999 criticism (p 204) of the neutron interferometric observation of noncyclic phases, but turns a Nelson's eye to the accompanying reply (Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 2090 (1999)). Incidentally, the experiment was performed with polarized neutrons - as it ought to be - and not unpolarized neutrons, as the book states. Overhauser and Colella's classic 1974 paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 33 1237) - a precursor to the COW (1975) experiment proper - gets disposed of in three words (p 211) and vanishes mysteriously from the list of references. The invocation of the `Feynman-Dirac prescription' (p 215) is inappropriate. The most serious `lapse' appears in Section 8.12 (pp 268-74). Wagh and Rakhecha 1997 (p 273) were the first to derive the exact spinor evolution for polarized neutrons accelerating in uniform electric and magnetic fields, and to disprove the conclusion of Casella and Werner 1992 (p 269). Rauch and Werner's book omits to acknowledge this fact and offers `its own' explanation of the phenomenon in Figs 8.6 and 8.7, based on ideas borrowed directly from Figs 4 and 2 respectively in Wagh and Rakhecha (1997). Barring such lapses, and a number of typographical errors*, Rauch and Werner have completed their Herculean task admirably to come up with this comprehensive sourcebook on neutron interferometry and its contributions to the epistemological understanding of the quantum world. The Oxford University Press has produced the book with its customary high-quality standards. The book has a smart appearance and an attractive front cover, adorned by a famous New Yorker cartoon depicting a skizzical quantal sojourn past a tree. I have no hesitation in recommending Neutron Interferometry as a must-read book to young and old physicists and philosophers hailing from a wide spectrum of disciplines. The book has already occupied pride of place on the shelf of every practitioner of neutron interferometry. So happy reading, experimenters and theoreticians - and happier interfering! Apoorva G Wagh *Use of the symbol δ to represent a partial differential (pp 2, 21), the incorrect sign for a power of 10 in Table 1.2 (p 3), a value close to unity cited for 1 - n (p 8), the word charge(s) misprinted as `change(s)' (p 193) and missing exponents ½ and 2 in Eqs (7.49) and (7.51) respectively (p 242) provide a random sample of the typographical errors in the book.
Neutron interferometry provides a powerful tool to investigate particle and wave features in quantum physics. Single particle interference phenomena can be observed with neutrons and the entanglement of degrees of freedom, i.e., contextuality can be verified and used in further experiments. Entanglement of two photons, or atoms, is analogous to a double slit diffraction of a single photon, neutron or atom. Neutrons are proper tools for testing quantum mechanics because they are massive, they couple to electromagnetic fields due to their magnetic moment, they are subject to all basic interactions, and they are sensitive to topological effects, as well. The 4π-symmetry of spinor wave functions, the spin-superposition law and many topological phenomena can be made visible, thus showing interesting intrinsic features of quantum physics. Related experiments will be discussed. Deterministic and stochastic partial absorption experiments can be described by Bell-type inequalities. Neutron interferometry experiments based on post-selection methods renewed the discussion about quantum non-locality and the quantum measuring process. It has been shown that interference phenomena can be revived even when the overall interference pattern has lost its contrast. This indicates a persisting coupling in phase space even in cases of spatially separated Schrödinger cat-like situations. These states are extremely fragile and sensitive against any kind of fluctuations and other decoherence processes. More complete quantum experiments also show that a complete retrieval of quantum states behind an interaction volume becomes impossible in principle, but where and when a collapse of the wave-field occurs depends on the level of experiment.
Perfect crystal neutron interferometry has provided the basis for the realization of many basic experiments for testing quantum mechanics with massive particles. The following quantum effects have been verified: 4π-symmetry of spinors, spin-superposition, gravity-induced quantum interference effects, the Aharonov-Casher effect, the magnetic Josephson effects, the scalar Aharonov-Bohm effect etc. More recently, steps towards neutron quantum optics have been undertaken. Measurements have dealt with the coherence properties of the neutron beam, the photon exchange between the neutron and various electromagnetic fields, the particle number-phase uncertainty, squeezing phenomena, and the Wigner-functional behavior of a neutron system. These achievements opened the field of direct Fourier spectroscopy which brings a direct access to the space and time dependent correlation functions which describe condensed matter. Various perspectives for further experiments in the field of fundamental and condensed matter physics are discussed.