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Has anyone here used a laser to do a double slit experiment?






Aiming a pointer through a diffraction grating. That's many slits instead of two, but the science is the same.
 
Isn't the experiment done by sending a single photon at a time other wise how could you determine if a photon is going through both slits if you use a laser that send trillions of photons in a beam?
The title is misleading. Its a "we create our reality" kind of perversion of the experiment ? That poor experiment has been hijacked by the new age philosophy by equivocation that measuring a particle is the same as us effecting our reality. Its a play on words. The whole observer thing has been taken too far in some explanations. Talk to any physicist other than Dr Fred Alan Wolf and they can explain why its not what youtube and Depak Chopra like to make it out to be. Not saying you're doing that just the title of the video.
 
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They have hijacked it to the distaste of many, I see that kind of complaint from time to time, especially from highly educated individuals, that science is not woo woo and the new age outlooks on this are bunk, but for myself, some of the aspects of this experiment sure causes me pause when I think about the implications. Perhaps I am more of an out of the box thinker, I've never been constrained by the limits of education enough to completely dismiss some of those woo woo sentiments, unfortunately, the fool I can be because of it.

Yes, I didn't like that title either, lots of people take other folks videos and repost them on YouTube with their own take on what it is about, to them anyway. If I could have found the origin without that title I would have preferred to use that, but it doesn't change the content which I think is interesting enough to share here as well as ask if anyone here has done anything with this themselves.

Even more fascinating to me is the delayed choice experiment, using single photons, of course. At one time I saw a company selling a complete set of optics and a laser to make your own double-slit experiment, I have forgotten who. If anyone has had direct involvement with this experiment I'd love to see your thoughts here.

Here's a link to a web page showing how to do a very simple application of the experiment:

Double Slit Experiment at Home | Physics Database

At some point, I'd like to try setting something up myself.

Now I'm off to go watch The Secret, the ultimate woo woo new age video of our times :) (just kidding, but I have watched it with both an accepting as well as a critical eye for many things in it, but that's where I first heard of this experiment).
 
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Laser Project said:
Now I'm off to go watch The Secret, the ultimate woo woo new age video of our times :) (just kidding, but I have watched it with both an accepting as well as a critical eye for many things in it, but that's where I first heard of this experiment).
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Abraham fan are you? I have seen Esther Hicks speak a couple times. I used to be quite into New Age stuff if you can believe it. I'll take her deliberate creation woo woo over "What the bleep do we know" utter horse shit any day. That film was to Quantum Theory what Maria Carey was to film.

I do believe in the effects of positive thinking and even believing something you wish to be is already a reality as a method of accomplishing your goals and living a happier life but do not think its because we are creating reality or any woo woo supernatural crap like these films like to assert.
 
I see much of what happens to human beings as mechanical-karma, be good and you are good, be bad and you are bad.... treat others good and you will get good in return, bad, bad in return, as a general rule.
 
Laser Project said:
I'm guessing you are taking a critical angle, could be wrong, but lately you seem to be doing that to members.
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I deal with people on a post-by-post basis.

Laser Project said:
I realize normal lasers are not used for the experiment.
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Why not? It depends on what you are trying to demonstrate. If you want to see photons make an interference pattern, any laser pointer will do.
 
nwfreefly said:
That film was to Quantum Theory what Maria Carey was to film.
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One of my favorite LPF quotes ever. As someone who falls asleep watching movie channels and has had the life changing experience of waking up during "Glitter"
 
Manners to the masses of idiots is hard to bear.
 
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The Secret is this:

OmfytRz.jpg
 
I was waiting for the angle on the story, it was there. In general, that book is held in distain by those of us who know better, that the world cannot be changed by your wishing something to be without real action, although I do believe YOUR world can change with a more positive attitude and because of this perhaps others will see you differently, if too negative before, but other than that, we pretty much get what we put in, no secret to that.

I don't believe the double slit experiment and the astounding implications which come from it have anything to do with the sensationalism in books such as that, it isn't woo woo, it's much more than that, unfortunately, many mix the outcome of the experiment with new age thinking, especially when their first exposure to it is from that movie. The experiment was done long before the author included it in a new age book with their take on it and isn't part of a belief system, its science, the real thing, and to me oh so awesome. The delayed double slit experiment even more so.
 
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Yes, i have done double slit, single slit, and diffraction grating. What would you like to know? I'm not more qualified than most users here, but i could answer some questions!
 
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Can you point me towards the required items to do the experiment myself?
 
Hopefully this is not considered an old thread yet... (If it is, pretty much every thread in this section is considered old then lol)

We have done it in school a few weeks ago. We used a laser of 632.8nm but it was too weak (don't know exact wattage, but prolly not even 5mW) to see the beams (one student brought a smoke machine so we could see the diffracted beams). Fortunately, I had my 532nm laser with me so we used it instead.

The result was really cool. Even though mine was 532nm and the slits were probably closer to 632nm, the wavelength was still comparable to the size of the slits and the phenomenon (the interference pattern) was observed :)
 
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