Momentum Transfer to a Free Floating Double Slit: Realization of a Thought Experiment from the Einstein-Bohr Debates

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.111.103201
• Publication Date: 2013-09-06T04:20:02Z
• Authors: L. Ph. H. Schmidt; J. Lower; T. Jahnke; S. Schößler; M. S. Schöffler; A. Menssen; C. Lévêque; N. Sisourat; R. Taïeb; H. Schmidt-Böcking; R. Dörner
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

We simultaneously measured the momentum transferred to a free-floating molecular double slit and the momentum change of the atom scattering from it. Our experimental results are compared to quantum mechanical and semiclassical models. The results reveal that a classical description of the slits, which was used by Einstein in his debate with Bohr, provides a surprisingly good description of the experimental results, even for a microscopic system, if momentum transfer is not ascribed to a specific pathway but shared coherently and simultaneously between both.