A modified Stern-Gerlach experiment using a quantum two-state magnetic field

作者：Daghigh Ramin G^*; Green Michael D; West Christopher J

来源：Results in Physics, 2018, 9: 740-744.

DOI：10.1016/j.rinp.2018.03.022

The Stern-Gerlach experiment has played an important role in our understanding of quantum behavior. We propose and analyze a modified version of this experiment where the magnetic field of the detector is in a quantum superposition, which may be experimentally realized using a superconducting flux qubit. We show that if incident spin-1/2 particles couple with the two-state magnetic field, a discrete target distribution results that resembles the distribution in the classical Stern-Gerlach experiment. As an application of the general result, we compute the distribution for a Gaussian waveform of the incident fermion. This analysis allows us to demonstrate theoretically: (1) the quantization of the intrinsic angular momentum of a spin-1/2 particle, and (2) a correlation between EPR pairs leading to nonlocality, without necessarily collapsing the particle's spin wavefunction.

• 出版日期2018-6