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A matterless double slit

delete2010-01-10
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B
B. King
A
A. Di Piazza *
C
Christoph H. Keitel
DOI:10.1038/NPHOTON.2009.261delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Double slits provide incoming particles with a choice. Those that survive passage through the slits have chosen from two possible paths, which interfere to distribute them in a wave-like manner. Such wave-particle duality1 continues to be challenged(2-5) and investigated in a broad range of disciplines with electrons6, neutrons7, helium atoms(8), C-60 fullerenes(9), Bose-Einstein condensates(10) and biological molecules(11). All variants have hitherto involved material constituents. We present a matterless doubleslit scenario in which photons generated from virtual electronpositron pair annihilation in head-on collisions of a probe laser field with two ultra-intense laser beams form a double-slit interference pattern. Such electromagnetic fields are predicted to induce material-like behaviour in vacuum, supporting elastic scattering between photons(12,13). Our double-slit scenario presents, on the one hand, a realizable method with which to observe photonphoton scattering and, on the other hand, demonstrates the possibility of both controlling light with light and non-locally investigating features of the quantum vacuum structure.
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Journal

Nature Photonics cover
Nature Photonics
IF:
32.9
Papers:
4.3K
Citations:
6.1W

Organization

M
Max Planck Society
Scholars:
8.2W
Papers: 7.7W
Citations: 3.3W