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Experimental Test of Decoherence Theory using Electron Matter Waves

Quantum Physics 2018-12-05 v1

Abstract

A controlled decoherence environment is studied experimentally by free electron interaction with semiconducting and metallic plates. The results are compared with physical models based on decoherence theory to investigate the quantum-classical transition. The experiment is consistent with decoherence theory and rules out established Coulomb interaction models in favor of plasmonic excitation models. In contrast to previous decoherence experiments, the present experiment is sensitive to the onset of decoherence.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1711.10977,
  title  = {Experimental Test of Decoherence Theory using Electron Matter Waves},
  author = {Peter J. Beierle and Liyun Zhang and Herman Batelaan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.10977},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Main Text: 6 pages, 3 figures. Supplemental Material: 3 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T23:01:13.055Z