Reconstruction of the time-dependent wave function exclusively from position data

A method is presented that reconstructs the amplitude and phase of an unknown time-dependent pure-state wave function entirely from experimental position data. No assumptions about the wave function are needed. At a series of times, a large collection of position data is taken, but no measurements o...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Physical review letters 2011-12, Vol.107 (23), p.230403-230403, Article 230403
Hauptverfasser: Coffey, Timothy M, Wyatt, Robert E, Schieve, Wm C
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:A method is presented that reconstructs the amplitude and phase of an unknown time-dependent pure-state wave function entirely from experimental position data. No assumptions about the wave function are needed. At a series of times, a large collection of position data is taken, but no measurements of momentum or energy are necessary. The momenta, however, are required for the reconstruction of the wave function and are supplied by analysis of the position data via quantum particle trajectories. Simulations of the method are provided for helium atoms in single and double slit experiments.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.230403