Single electron double slit wave experiment
Why Physics Stack Exchange recommends it
Physics Stack Exchange users link it as the standard visual reference showing that single electron impacts accumulate into an interference pattern in the double-slit experiment.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2013 to 2023.
What it is
A 69-second clip of the 1989 Hitachi experiment by Akira Tonomura and colleagues, in which single electrons are sent through a double slit one at a time. Individual impacts appear as dots, and an interference pattern gradually builds up as thousands accumulate.
What people said
Cites anna v · 2013-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Matter Waves Interference”
The confusion comes because you are thinking of probability waves, which is what the interference pattern from elementary particles through the double slit experiment are, as if they are classical waves. Current day physics accepts that the fundamental framework of nature is quantum mechanical. Classical mechanics, classical electromagnetism are emergent theories from the quantum mechanical foundations, in an analogous way that thermodynamics is an emergent theory on the substratum of statistical mechanics. The electromagnetic wave is a special case because the classical wave as given by Maxwell's equations emerges from the coherent synergy of a huge number of photons, i.e. elementary partic
Cites bright magus · 2014-11 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “References for experimental results of the double-slit experiment”
Peter, you might want to look up the article in AJP (No 57, pp. 117–120) Demonstration of single‐electron buildup of an interference pattern [LINK] describing the famous experiment by Akira Tonomura (1989), who showed that single electron is a particle and not a wave, and that the interference pattern is not created by a single particle, but rather the consequence of accumulation of thousands of them. annav's answer contains the pictures from this experiment, and here is the video: [this video]
Cites bright magus · 2014-11 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “References for experimental results of the double-slit experiment”
@annav: *"Again in the double slit experiments the solutions are plane waves impinging on the two slits, quantum mechanical."* If you watch the video from the experiment by A. Tanamura [this video] , the photos of which you used in your answer, you will see clearly that it has proved that electron is not a "plane wave" but only a particle, as **single electron never creates the interference pattern**. See also this answer [LINK] to "Is the wave-particle duality a real duality?", where you will find more on the subject.
Cites The Tiler · 2021-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Particle interference”
According the experiments of interference of the particles one by one*, we see that it is the distribution of the impacts of all the particles on the screen (detector) which draws (constructs) the interference figure, does this collective "behavior" reflect the "character" of each of them or only a kind of probabilistic distribution? What experiment can be imagined to prove that a single particle interferes with itself (thought experiment proposed by Richard Feynman ) without using the photon or particle count rate, i.e. a single particle that gives only one impact on the detector? * [LINK] [this video] [LINK]
Cites Cleonis · 2023-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Is the statistical nature of quantum mechanics due to uncertainty principle?”
As pointed out in another answer, the measurement problem and Heisenberg uncertainty are not causally related. Heisenberg uncertainty arises from the wave characteristics of propagation of quantum entities. This wave behavior is highly analogous to classical wave propagation (but not identical). For instance, most of the (interference) properties of light can be accounted for in terms of propagation of classical waves. (Well, in order to interpret propagation of light as classical wave propagation the existence of a medium that enables that propagation must be granted). The key point: Wave propagation, and interference effect of wave propagation, does not in itself lead to a statistical natu