Can we obtain interference pattern by using single electron/photon in Young's Double slit experiment? If yes, then how ...and if no, then why?
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with a single electron/photon u not going to get a pattern but you will get interference effects.i.e,if u let photons/electrons incident one by one and wait for sometime you 'll see interference pattern on the screen – Sooraj S Feb 05 '16 at 13:37
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2See also: Single photon and double-slit experiment. We encourage new members to do a basic search of the site before posting to see if their questions has already been asked. – John Rennie Feb 05 '16 at 13:45
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1Do you mean observe an interference pattern after launching just one photon? No. Do you mean interference after launching many photons, one at a time, one after another? Yes. – garyp Feb 05 '16 at 14:01
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G.I. Taylor did the first such experiment in 1909; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Taylor
And yes, the statistical pattern of many repetitions shows interference.
The same result holds for similar experimental setups; I've done it with electrons where the slits were provided by ultrathin gold films.
How does this happen? It is just a fundamental property of quantum physics - Richard Feynman didn't explain it in his lectures, volume III; it simply is.
Peter Diehr
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Interference pattern will emerge statistically. Single electron experiment will result in a single electron appearing on the screen, but the probability for this electron to appear at a certain point on the screen will be governed by interference of probabilities of a single-slit experiment. As a result, sending more electrons through a double-slit , one after another, will gradually build up exactly an interference pattern.
Kosm
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Yes we can , that is called single photon double slit experiment But its general question that how single particle can can interfere with itself so physicst tryies to cheque that by observing the phenomenon but an intresting think happen , pattern get vanish as it observed so its mistery as i think.... but in recen i read a article of prof. Stinberg who has obsebed the path of photon with no loss of interference pattern which again a big question for physics
Ashu5765449
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"The path" or more exactly the track of "a photon" can only be observed if "the photon" (a misnomer) has a very high energy compared to the weak position measurements that map it out, in which case "the photon" acts like a classical object and there is no interference. There is no mystery here, just endless amounts of philosophical non-sense that centers around profound misunderstandings of the measurement process. – CuriousOne Feb 05 '16 at 14:28