China's Researchers Bring Closure To Einstein And Bohr's Long-Standing Quantum Mystery

A team of Chinese scientists has recreated a famous thought experiment proposed by Albert Einstein nearly 100 years ago, confirming a key principle of quantum mechanics. Their experiment shows that a particle's path and its wave-like behaviour cannot be observed at the same time, proving Niels Bohr's idea about the nature of quantum objects, reported CGTN.

In 1927, at the Solvay Conference in Brussels, debates among physicists on the foundations of quantum mechanics began. Einstein was skeptical of the theory and attempted to challenge Bohr's principle of "complementarity." 

According to Bohr, quantum particles, such as photons, could behave as both particles and waves simultaneously, but it was impossible to measure both properties simultaneously. 

Einstein proposed a thought experiment, a modified version of the double-slit experiment, to show that both properties could potentially be measured simultaneously, which would have contradicted Bohr's theory.

For several decades, Einstein's challenge remained theoretical. Now, a team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), led by Professor Pan Jianwei, has turned it into a real experiment. 

The team developed extremely sensitive equipment that can detect the tiny motion of a single photon. Their experiment showed that attempting to measure the particle's path destroys the interference pattern, and that observing the interference pattern makes it impossible to determine the particle's path. 

These results vindicate Bohr's theory that these properties are complementary and cannot be observed simultaneously.

This experiment is being hailed as a significant achievement in physics. It demonstrates that the unusual behaviour of quantum particles is a fundamental feature of reality, not a lack of experiment.

The research was published in Physical Review Letters and resolved a long-standing debate in favor of Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation. 

Professor Pan and his team recreated Einstein's thought experiment to demonstrate how the quantum world actually works and validated China's scientific research capabilities.