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科学家通过单光子证明了量子最小作用原理
作者:小柯机器人 发布时间:2023/5/29 14:03:45


近日,华南师范大学物理与电信工程学院的朱诗亮&颜辉教授课题组取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力,他们成功通过单光子证明了量子最小作用原理。相关研究成果已于2023年5月22日在国际知名学术期刊《自然—光子学》上发表。

在这项研究中,研究人员采用直接测量量子波函数的方法,理论上提出并实验观测了单个光子的传播子。此外,通过观测传播子的极值,研究人员获得了自由空间和谐振子势阱中单个光子的经典轨迹,从而实验性地证明了量子最小作用量原理。这项工作为在路径积分表述中实验探索量子理论的基本问题铺平了道路。

据了解,最小作用量原理作为物理学中最基本的原理之一,可用于推导各个物理学分支中的运动方程。然而,在量子层面上,这一原理尚未被实验证明,因为费曼路径积分的传播子从未被观测到。传播子是量子系统的基本概念,路径积分的表述中包含了各种重要性质,因此其实验观测在量子力学中具有重要意义。

附:英文原文

Title: Demonstration of the quantum principle of least action with single photons

Author: Wen, Yong-Li, Wang, Yunfei, Tian, Li-Man, Zhang, Shanchao, Li, Jianfeng, Du, Jing-Song, Yan, Hui, Zhu, Shi-Liang

Issue&Volume: 2023-05-22

Abstract: The principle of least action is arguably the most fundamental principle in physics as it can be used to derive the equations of motion in various branches of physics. However, this principle has not been experimentally demonstrated at the quantum level because the propagators for Feynman’s path integrals have never been observed. The propagator is a fundamental concept and contains various significant properties of a quantum system in the path integral formulation, so its experimental observation is itself essential in quantum mechanics. Here we theoretically propose and experimentally observe the propagators of single photons based on the method of directly measuring quantum wave functions. Furthermore, we obtain the classical trajectories of single photons in free space and in a harmonic trap based on the extremum of the observed propagators, thereby experimentally demonstrating the quantum principle of least action. Our work paves the way for experimentally exploring the fundamental problems of quantum theory in the formulation of path integrals.

DOI: 10.1038/s41566-023-01212-1

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-023-01212-1

期刊信息
Nature Photonics:《自然—光子学》,创刊于2007年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团,最新IF:39.728