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Quantum optics

Quantum optics

Fermion first for quantum interference

12 Jan 1998

If two identical quantum particles collide and rebound, the very act of observing one of them interferes with the behaviour of the second. The interference pattern depends on whether the particles are bosons or fermions. In the latest issue of Nature Yoshihisa Yamamoto of Stanford University, California, and colleagues report that they have measured this effect in fermion collisions for the first time.

Bosons (for example, photons) cause constructive interference patterns. This means that the proba

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