Spins Lab 2
Highlights of the activity
- Apply the formalism to work backwards to determine an unknown quantum state
- Spin interferometer
- Which-path measurements
Reasons to spend class time on the activity
Students take data and then use the results to deduce the quantum state vectors that led to those results. Students build an interferometer and then use the projection postulate to calculate the expected results in interferometer. Finally students perform which-path experiments to see the perturbative effect of measurement.
This lab has been edited in 2010 to clarify steps needed to complete the lab. Students have difficulty with this lab - they are unsure 'how much' data to take (and need reminded of the statistics they did in lab 1), and have a very difficult time with the calculations.
The 2010 version of the lab is here.