Scribd
Upload
28 views3 pages

Stern Gerlach Experiment

The Stern-Gerlach experiment involves firing silver atoms through an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Classically, one would expect a range of deflections, but quantitatively, the silver atoms are always deflected in one of two possible directions (+h bar/2 or -h bar/2), demonstrating the quantization of angular momentum. A series of experiments passing the atoms through successive magnetic fields in different orientations showed that the measurement of spin in one direction does not affect the outcome of later measurements in different directions, confirming the fundamental probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.

Uploaded by

Tharan Tejas Rajagopalan SARAVANAKKUMAR
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views3 pages

Stern Gerlach Experiment

The Stern-Gerlach experiment involves firing silver atoms through an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Classically, one would expect a range of deflections, but quantitatively, the silver atoms are always deflected in one of two possible directions (+h bar/2 or -h bar/2), demonstrating the quantization of angular momentum. A series of experiments passing the atoms through successive magnetic fields in different orientations showed that the measurement of spin in one direction does not affect the outcome of later measurements in different directions, confirming the fundamental probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.

Uploaded by

Tharan Tejas Rajagopalan SARAVANAKKUMAR
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Stern-Gerlach Experiment

Tharan Tejas
August 2023

1 Abstract
Stern-Gerlach experiment is one of the most crucial experiment in the transition
between the classical mechanics and quantum theory The experiment involves
firing silver particles into an inhomogeneous magnetic field directed in a partic-
ular direction. Due to the magnetic field there is a force acting on the atoms,
deflecting them away. The silver atoms exiting the field are reflected on a screen,
and their deflection is observed.

2 The overview of the system


A silver atom consists of 47 electrons. The total spin angular momentum of
46 electrons cancel out. So the total spin angular moment of a silver atom is
basically the spin angular momentum of 1 electron and the nucleus. Due to the
electron being charged and having spin angular moment, it creates a magnetic
moment. The magnetic moment is given by µ. However as seen in the equation
the larger the mass the lower the magnetic moment. Hence the nucleus of the
silver which is, comparing to the electron, has a very high mass and therefore
has a very small magnetic moment which is negligible. So the total magnetic
moment of the silver atom is virtually the magnetic moment of a single electron.

gq ⃗
µ
⃗= S (1)
2mc

g is a dimensionless factor which depends on the mass and charge distribu-


tion. S⃗ is the intrinsic angular momentum, or the spin angular momentum. q
is the charge of the particle. In this case for the electron g = 2 and q = −e. Let
us assume that initially the inhomogeneous magnetic field is in the z-direction.
Before the silver atom is fired, we assume the magnetic moment µ ⃗ make
⃗ and S
an angle θ with the z axis. When we measure the projection of the spin angular
momentum on the z axis, Sz it takes a range of values, hence µz should also
take continuous values. When the silver atoms are fired and exits the magnetic

1
field, our classical analysis predicts that there should be a range of magnetic
moments deflecting. However we get 2 values of µz corresponding to 2 discrete
value of Sz , + h̄2 and − h̄2 (as shown in diagram below).

We would define the inhomogeneous magnetic field along a direction n as


SGn device. When the silver atoms enter the SGz device we measure the spin
angular momentum, Sz . If we measure the Sz to be + h̄2 then we define the
particle to be in state | + z > (spin up state), and if we measure it to be − h̄2
then we define the particle to be in state | − z > (spin down state). The silver
atoms passing through the SG device would always be deflected as either up or
down and is then observed by the detector, the spin up corresponds to + h̄2 and
the spin down corresponds to − h̄2 . In the following sections we would discuss
various Stern-Gerlach experiments and how the results of such experiments can
be explained mathematically.

3 Experiments

Experiment 1: Suppose we fire silver atoms at the SGz device. The probability
of finding the particle to be in | + z > and | − z > would be half. If we block
the path of the | − z > state then place another SGz device, we would always
measure the particle coming out as | + z > (as shown in the diagram).

Experiment 2: In experiment 2 we fire the silver atom first at SGz device,


and then block the path of the | − z >. The | + z > states then enter the SGx
device. The particles coming out would be in either | + x > state or | − z >
state.

2
Experiment 3: In the experiment 3 we block the path | − x > states and
the | + x states enter another SGz device (as shown in the 3 experiment in
the diagram below). After the particles exist the second SGz device we would
expect it to be in | + z since we already measured it to be in | + z >v state when
we measured it at the beginning. Our intuition tells us that this experiment
should behave in the same way as the experiment 1, and that measuring Sx in
between should not change the final results.

This result can be explained using various mathematical tools and powerful
notations.

4 Mathematical Formalism

You might also like