Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011njph...13f5018m&link_type=abstract
New Journal of Physics, Volume 13, Issue 6, pp. 065018 (2011).
Physics
1
Scientific paper
In the Stern-Gerlach experiment, silver atoms were separated according to their spin state (Gerlach and Stern 1922 Z. Phys. 9 353-355). This experiment demonstrates the quantization of spin and relies on the classical description of motion. However, so far, no design has led to a functional Stern-Gerlach magnet for free electrons. Bohr and Pauli showed in the 1930 Solvay conference that Stern-Gerlach magnets for electrons cannot work, at least if the design is based on classical trajectories (Pauli W 1932 Proc. of the 6th Solvay Conf. 2 (1930) (Brussels: Gauthier-Villars) pp 183-86, 217-20, 275-80 Pauli W 1964 Collected Scientific Papers ed R Kronig and V F Weiskopf, vol 2 (New York: Wiley)). Here, we present ideas for the realization of a Stern-Gerlach magnet for electrons in which spin and motion are treated fully quantum mechanically. We show that a magnetic phase grating composed of a regular array of microscopic current loops can separate electron diffraction peaks according to their spin states. The experimental feasibility of a diffractive approach is compared to that of an interferometric approach. We show that an interferometric arrangement with magnetic phase control is the functional equivalent of an electron Stern-Gerlach magnet.
Bach Roger
Batelaan Herman
McGregor Scot
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