Can a Rock be a Wave? From 100 years of De-Broglie's Wave-Particle Duality to Quantum-Gravity SPIE paper number, 12912-148

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Abstract

It is almost exactly 100 years since De-Broglie made public his outrageous hypothesis regarding Wave-Particle Duality (WPD), where the latter plays a key role in interferometry. In parallel, the Stern-Gerlach (SG) effect, found a century ago, has become a paradigm of quantum mechanics. We have realized a half- [1-3] and full- [4-5] loop SG interferometer for single atoms [6], and have observed how WPD, or complementarity, manifests itself. We are now planning to use the acquired understanding to show how this setup may be used to realize an interferometer for macroscopic objects doped with a single spin [5], namely, to show that even rocks may reveal themselves as waves. This is the focus of this paper. One should of course take care to identify and estimate all the decoherence channels which are unique to macroscopic objects such as those relating to phonons [7,8] and rotation [9]. These must be addressed in such a challenging experiment. The realization of such an experiment could open the door to a new era of fundamental probes, including the realization of previously inaccessible tests of the foundations of quantum theory and the interface of quantum mechanics and gravity, including the probing of exotic theories such as the Diosi-Penrose gravitationally induced collapse. As an anecdote I end this abstract by also noting De-Broglie's less popular assertion, namely, that the standard description of QM is lacking, by mentioning our recent work on Bohmian mechanics, which is an extension of De-Broglie's ideas concerning the pilot wave [10]. Finally, for a popular exposition of the SG experiment and our work on this topic, see Quanta Magazine (Dec. 2023) [11].

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationQuantum Sensing, Imaging, and Precision Metrology II
EditorsJacob Scheuer, Selim M. Shahriar
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510670846
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2024
EventQuantum Sensing, Imaging, and Precision Metrology II 2024 - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 27 Jan 20241 Feb 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume12912

Conference

ConferenceQuantum Sensing, Imaging, and Precision Metrology II 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period27/01/241/02/24

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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