Notes for SPINS program

Spins is an interactive computer program that simulates Stern-Gerlach measurements on spin 1/2 and spin 1 particles. The original Macintosh version was written by D. V. Schroeder (see Am. J. Phys. 61, 798 (1993)). The Java version is very similar. In each case, an experiment consists of a few simple components that are controlled with menu and/or mouse commands.


 

The simplest Stern-Gerlach experiment to measure the spin projection along the z-axis. This experiment is ready to go when the program starts up.


 

An experiment for successive measurement of spin projections.


An interference experiment with spin 1/2 particles.


 

An experiment to study spin 1/2 particles in a magnetic field.


David H. McIntyre

Oregon State University

mcintyre@ucs.orst.edu