CIFAR researcher Aephraim Steinberg changes how we measure the quantum world and tops 2011 breakthroughs list from Physics World

CIFAR researcher Aephraim Steinberg’s newest discovery challenges one of the widely held notions of quantum mechanics: that when a quantum particle is passed through two slits, it is impossible to know which slit it chose because of its dual nature as both a particle and wave. Any attempt to measure the particle’s location will destroy this dual nature.

In his modified experiment, Dr. Steinberg and his team at the University of Toronto passed photons through a beam splitter and then through one of two optical fibres. A piece of calcite then gave the emerging photons a weak polarization before they hit a screen. Thanks to the calcite, researchers were able to gather more information about where the particles were coming from, without destroying the particle-wave nature of the photons. Dr. Steinberg's finding was named this year's top physics breakthrough by the Institute of Physics's physicsworld.com.Read more