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Multiple-slit arrangements can be mathematically considered as multiple simple wave sources, if the slits are narrow enough. For light, a slit is an opening that is infinitely extended in one dimension, and this has the effect of reducing a wave problem in 3D-space to a simpler problem in 2D-space.
The standard interpretation of the double slit experiment is that the pattern is a wave phenomenon, representing interference between two probability amplitudes, one for each slit. Low intensity experiments demonstrate that the pattern is filled in one particle detection at a time.
Feynman's approach was extended to N-slit interferometers for either single-photon illumination, or narrow-linewidth laser illumination, that is, illumination by indistinguishable photons, by Frank Duarte. [3] [4] The N-slit interferometer was first applied in the generation and measurement of complex interference patterns. [3] [4]
This approach was extended to N-slit interferometers, by Duarte and colleagues in 1989, [5] using narrow-linewidth laser illumination, that is, illumination by indistinguishable photons. The first application of the N-slit interferometer was the generation and measurement of complex interference patterns.
Double-slit interference fringes can be observed by cutting two slits in a piece of card, illuminating with a laser pointer, and observing the diffracted light at a distance of 1 m. If the slit separation is 0.5 mm, and the wavelength of the laser is 600 nm, then the spacing of the fringes viewed at a distance of 1 m would be 1.2 mm.
Thus, the interference pattern maps out the difference in phase between the two waves, with maxima occurring when the phase difference is a multiple of 2 π. If the two beams are of equal intensity, the maxima are four times as bright as the individual beams, and the minima have zero intensity.
The photon is said to have traveled as a wave if the buildup results in the typical interference pattern of waves (see Double-slit experiment § Interference from individual particles for an animation showing the buildup). However, if one of the slits is closed, or two orthogonal polarizers are placed in front of the slits (making the photons ...
In doing so, the experimenter restores interference without altering the double-slit part of the experimental apparatus. [ 3 ] A variation of this experiment, delayed-choice quantum eraser , allows the decision whether to measure or destroy the "which path" information to be delayed until after the entangled particle partner (the one going ...