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Observation of the transverse Stern-Gerlach effect in neutral potassium and an analysis of a charged particle Stern-Gerlach experiment

University of British Columbia

Two experiments are described. One is the successful observation of the resonant deflection of a beam of neutral potassium atoms at a frequency of 7.2 Mhz, in agreement with the predictions of the theory of the Transverse Stern-Gerlach (TGS) experiment. The other is a proposal for a charged particle Stern-Gerlach experiment, which is based on an extension of the TSG experiment to time independent, inhomogeneous magnetic fields having the form [formula omitted] If the field B₁(r) is well chosen, the charged particle trajectories are confined in a stable beam by the resulting Lorentz forces for motion generally along the z axis. This is, in fact, the principle of strong focusing which is now widely used in accelerator design. But in such a system it is also possible to satisfy the criterion for a TSG experiment, since in a frame of reference moving with a particle in the z direction, the field B₁(r) is rotating in time.

Text

2011-05-25

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/34896

Physics

University of British Columbia

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