Physicists Smash Record For Wave-Particle Duality

KentuckyFC writes "One of the central concepts in quantum theory is wave-particle duality — that every object can be thought of as a particle and a wave. Indeed every object has a quantum wavelength associated with it and so can form a quantum superposition with itself. That's easy to demonstrate with fundamental particles such as photons and electrons by passing a beam of them through a double slit and watching the interference pattern that forms on the other side. In this way, physicists have observed the interference patterns associated with atoms and even molecules such as buckyballs. Now, a group at the University of Vienna has observed the interference pattern formed by the quantum superposition of molecules containing over 800 atoms, or around 5,000 protons, 5,000 neutrons and 5,000 electrons. That's the most macroscopic occurrence of wave-particle duality ever observed, they say."

Re:Vortices in Superfluids beats this

[hubie]

There are some really interesting experiments going on these days with QM behavior of macroscopic objects (micrometer-scale). I've seen descriptions of MEMS cantilevers built and they measure its vibrational modes, and these guys [phdcomics.com] describe how they did it using reflected laser light. The trick is to cool the device to get rid of the phonons and detect when it falls into the ground state.

Particle, wave, Nobel prizes...a family affair

[Trax3001BBS]

love this one:
"In 1906, J.J. Thompson had received the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are particles;
in 1937 he saw his son awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are waves.
Both father and son were correct, and both awards were fully merited."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Thomson [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Paget_Thomson [wikipedia.org]