Quantum Zeno effect

✍ Scribed by Itano, Wayne M.; Heinzen, D. J.; Bollinger, J. J.; Wineland, D. J.

• Book ID: 118026034
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 584 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1050-2947
• DOI: 10.1103/physreva.41.2295

✦ Synopsis

The quantum Zeno effect is the inhibition of transitions between qua»t, ill» st.;I.t,es by flcqucllt. measurements of the state. The inhibition arises because the measurement. causes a. colla. pse (reduction) of the wave function. If the time between measurements is short eno»gh, the wave function usually collapses back to the initial state. We have observed this effect. in nn rf transition between two Be+ ground-state hyperfine levels. The ions werc confi»eel in a Penning trap and laser cooled. Short pulses of light, applied at the same time as the rf field, made the measurements. If an ion was in one state, it scattered a few photo»s; if it ~vas in t. he other, it scattered no photons. In the latter case the wave-function collapse was due t.o a null measurement. Good agreement was found with calculations.