Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 56: Poster IV

Q 56.29: Poster

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster

Wheeler's Delayed Choice with metastable Ar-atoms — •Michael Schreiber, Jiří Tomkovič, Joachim Welte, and Markus Oberthaler — Kirchhoff Institut für Physik, University of Heidelberg

J.A. Wheelers delayed choice Gedankenexperiment allows for tests of theories of hidden variables. Although these are almost perfectly excluded by experiment with photons a test for massive particles is still lacking. We report on our progress in the experimental realisation for the atomic case.

The necessary "single atom on demand source" is realised utilising a magneto-optical trap. The interferometer is implemented in Mach-Zender geometry utilising Bragg scattering from standing light waves. Whether wave-like or particle-like properties are considered is randomly decided for each atom after it has entered the interferometer by switching the third standing light wave on or off.