SPINS Java Homepage

David H. McIntyre
Dept. of Physics, Oregon State University

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)). This page contains our JAVA version that we developed for use in the Paradigm course PH425: Spin and Quantum Measurement (archived web site). A recent HTML5 version of the program is available.


An enhanced version of SPINS has been developed in collaboration with the Open Source Physics (OSP) project. That version has a separate home page,
but note that the OSP Spins code has not been updated with the code correction for the spin-1 interferometer problem, which is noted there.

The SPINS program is available as an application or an applet:

  • APPLICATION: The SPINS application is packaged as a jar file. Download it to your machine (you may have to right click and save). If you have Java installed you can double click on the jar file, or from the directory where the file resides type:

    >java -jar spins.jar (which runs the java code)

    If you do not have Java, you can download the Java Runtime Engine from Oracle (JRE). More Java help.
  • APPLET: You can open the Spins Applet from a browser. If you don't have the java plug in, your browser will ask you to download it (you need it).
  • The original Macintosh version, upon which the new Java version is based, is still available if you desire.
  • The Java application and applet have run under Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X.
  • SOURCE CODE: This software is issued under the GNU General Public License, which you should read if you intend to modify or distribute the program. Source code not updated yet.
  • Help for the SPINS program is available in html or pdf format, and is also embedded in the program.

© David McIntyre
Department of Physics, Oregon State University, 2017.
mcintyre@ucs.orst.edu
Updated 1.5.17

Partial support for the development of this software was provided by
The L. L. Stewart Faculty Development Fund
OSU Foundation, Corvallis, Oregon.