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In 2002, an electron field emission source was used to demonstrate the double-slit experiment. In this experiment, a coherent electron wave was emitted from two closely located emission sites on the needle apex, which acted as double slits, splitting the wave into two coherent electron waves in a vacuum.
The electron double slit experiment is a textbook demonstration of wave-particle duality. [2] A modern version of the experiment is shown schematically in the figure below. Left half: schematic setup for electron double-slit experiment with masking; inset micrographs of slits and mask; Right half: results for slit 1, slit 2 and both slits open ...
The Davisson–Germer experiment confirmed the de Broglie hypothesis that matter has wave-like behavior. This, in combination with the Compton effect discovered by Arthur Compton (who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927), [9] established the wave–particle duality hypothesis which was a fundamental step in quantum theory.
These experiments close a loophole in the traditional double-slit experiment demonstration that quantum behavior depends on the experimental arrangement. The loophole has been called a "conspiracy" model where light somehow "senses" the experimental apparatus, adjusting its behavior to particle or wave behavior.
The de Broglie hypothesis and the existence of matter waves has been confirmed for other elementary particles, neutral atoms and even molecules have been shown to be wave-like. [24] The first electron wave interference patterns directly demonstrating wave–particle duality used electron biprisms [25] [26] (essentially a wire placed in an ...
The first electron diffraction experiment was conducted in 1927 by Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer using what would come to be a prototype for modern LEED system. [11] The experiment was able to demonstrate the wave-like properties of electrons, [note 4] thus confirming the de Broglie hypothesis that matter particles have a wave-like nature.
The wave-like nature of the electron allows it to pass through two parallel slits simultaneously, rather than just one slit as would be the case for a classical particle. In quantum mechanics, the wave-like property of one particle can be described mathematically as a complex-valued function, the wave function, commonly denoted by the Greek ...
According to pilot wave theory, the point particle and the matter wave are both real and distinct physical entities (unlike standard quantum mechanics, which postulates no physical particle or wave entities, only observed wave-particle duality). The pilot wave guides the motion of the point particles as described by the guidance equation.