Experimental Demonstration of Uncertainty Relations for the Triple Components of Angular Momentum

The uncertainty principle is considered to be one of the most striking features in quantum mechanics. In the textbook literature, uncertainty relations usually refer to the preparation uncertainty which imposes a limitation on the spread of measurement outcomes for a pair of noncommuting observables...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2017-05, Vol.118 (18), p.180402-180402, Article 180402
Main Authors: Ma, Wenchao, Chen, Bin, Liu, Ying, Wang, Mengqi, Ye, Xiangyu, Kong, Fei, Shi, Fazhan, Fei, Shao-Ming, Du, Jiangfeng
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The uncertainty principle is considered to be one of the most striking features in quantum mechanics. In the textbook literature, uncertainty relations usually refer to the preparation uncertainty which imposes a limitation on the spread of measurement outcomes for a pair of noncommuting observables. In this work, we study the preparation uncertainty for the angular momentum, especially for spin-1/2. We derive uncertainty relations encompassing the triple components of angular momentum and show that, compared with the relations involving only two components, a triple constant 2/sqrt[3] often arises. Intriguingly, this constant is the same for the position and momentum case. Experimental verification is carried out on a single spin in diamond, and the results confirm the triple constant in a wide range of experimental parameters.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.180402