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C O M M E N T: L E T T E R S
Letters to the editor can be sent by post to Physics World, Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK, by e-mail to pwld@iop.org
or by fax to +44 (0)117 925 1942. Please include your address and a daytime telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters.

The double-slit a b experiments have not been performed and

perhaps cannot be performed to continue.”
experiment with (G Gilson 1989 Am. J. Phys. 57 680). Three
of the seven papers that Gilson refers to
single electrons were from our group in Bologna.
The main subject of our 1976 paper and
c d the 1989 paper from the Hitachi group are
The article “A brief history of the the same: the single-electron build-up of
double-slit experiment” (September 2002 the interference pattern and the statistical
p15; correction October p17) describes aspect of the phenomena. Obviously the
how Claus Jönsson of the University of electron-detection system used by the
Tübingen performed the first double-slit Hitachi group in 1989 was more
interference experiment with electrons in e f sophisticated than the one we used in 1974.
1961. It then goes on to say: “The next However, the sentence on page 118 of the
milestone – an experiment in which there paper by Tonomura et al., which states that
was just one electron in the apparatus at in our film we “showed the electron arrival
any one time – was reached by Akira in each frame without recording the
Tonomura and co-workers at Hitachi in A series of images filmed directly from a TV monitor cumulative arrivals”, is not correct. This
1989 when they observed the build-up of as the electron current density is increased (a)–(f). can be seen by watching the film and
the fringe pattern with a very weak electron The integration time remains constant at 0.04 s. As looking at figure 1 of our 1976 paper
source and an electron biprism (Am. J. Phys. there is only one electron in the apparatus at a (a version of which is shown here).
given time, the images show how an interference
57 117–120).” pattern can be built up from single-electron events.
Finally, it is also worth noting that the
In fact, I believe that the first double-slit This can be seen more clearly in the film “Electron first double-slit experiment with single
experiment with single electrons was interference” (www.lamel.bo.cnr.it/educational/ electrons was actually a by-product of
performed by Pier Giorgio Merli, educational.html). research into the practical applications of
GianFranco Missiroli and Giulio Pozzi in electron interferometry.
Bologna in 1974 – some 15 years before the Siemens Elmiskop IA and then used for Pier Giorgio Merli
Hitachi experiment. Moreover, the didactic (Am. J. Phys. 41 639–644) and LAMEL, CNR Bologna, Italy
Bologna experiment was performed under research experiments ( J. Microscopie 18 merli@lotto.lamel.bo.cnr.it
very difficult experimental conditions: the 103–108). We used the Elmiskop 101 for Giulio Pozzi
intrinsic coherence of the thermionic many experiments, such as the observation Department of Physics, University of Bologna
electron source used by the Bologna group of the electrostatic field associated with p–n giulio.pozzi@bo.infm.it
was much lower than that of the field- junctions ( J. Microscopie 21 11–20). GianFranco Missiroli
emission source in the Hitachi experiment. During this period we learned that Department of Physics, University of Bologna
The Bologna experiment is reported in a Professors Angelo and Aurelio Bairati at the f.missiroli@tin.it
film called “Electron interference” that Institute of Anatomy at the University of
received the award in the physics category Milan had bought an image intensifier that The Bologna group photographed the
at the International Festival on Scientific could be used with the Elmiskop 101. Out monitor of a sensitive TV camera as they
Cinematography in Brussels in 1976. A of curiosity, and also realizing the changed the intensity of an electron beam.
selection of six frames from the film (see conceptual importance of interference They observed that a few light flashes of
figure) was also used for a short paper, “On experiments with single photons or electrons appeared at low intensities, and
the statistical aspect of electron interference electrons, we asked if we could attempt to that interference fringes were formed at
phenomena”, that was submitted for perform an interference experiment with high intensities. They also mentioned that
publication in May 1974 and published two single electrons in the Milan laboratory. they were able to increase the storage time
years later (P G Merli, G F Missiroli and Our results formed the basis of the film up to “values of minutes”. Historically, they
G Pozzi 1976 Am. J. Phys. 44 306–7). “Electron interference” and were also were the first to report such experiments
John Steeds published in 1976 (Am. J. Phys. 44 306–7). concerning the formation of interference
Department of Physics, University of Bristol Following the publication of the paper by patterns as far as I know.
j.w.steeds@bristol.ac.uk Tonomura and co-workers in 1989, which Later, similar experiments were
did not refer to our 1976 paper (although it conducted by Hannes Lichte, then at
The history of science is not restricted to the did have an incorrect reference to our film), Tübingen and now at Dresden. Important
achievements of leading scientists or big the American Journal of Physics published a experiments on electron interference were
scientific institutions. Contributions can also letter from Greyson Gilson of Submicron also carried out by Valentin Fabrikant and
be made by researchers with the necessary Structures. The letter stated: “Tonomura co-workers at the Moscow Institute for
background, curiosity and enthusiasm. In et al. seem to believe that they were the first Energetics in 1949 and later by Takeo
the period 1973–1974 we were investigating to perform a successful two-slit interference Ichinokawa of Waseda University in Tokyo.
practical applications of electron experiment using electrons and also that Our experiments at Hitachi
interferometry with a Siemens Elmiskop they were the first to observe the cumulative (A Tonomura, J Endo, T Matsuda,
101 electron microscope that had been build-up of the resulting electron T Kawasaki and H Ezawa 1989
carefully calibrated at the CNR–LAMEL interference pattern. Although their “Demonstration of single-electron build-
laboratory in Bologna where one of us demonstration is very admirable, reports of up of an interference pattern” Am. J. Phys.
(PGM) was based ( J. Phys. E7 729–32). similar work have appeared in this journal 57 117–120) differed from these
These experiments followed earlier work for about 30 years (see, for examples, Refs. experiments in the following respects:
at the Istituto di Fisica in 1972–1973 in 2–7.) It seems inappropriate to permit the (a) Our experiments were carried out from
which the electron biprism was inserted in a widespread misconception that such beginning to end with constant and

20 physicsweb.org PHYSICS WORLD MAY 2003

 C O M M E N T: L E T T E R S
Editor’s note emotion, whereas many of the great
A longer version of the article “A brief theoretical insights of scientists like Newton
history of the double-slit experiment” or Dirac came during a period of
(September 2002 p15) is available online at emotional detachment. The exception is
physicsweb.org/article/world/15/9/1. Schrödinger, who wrote his six famous
a b This version has been updated in the light papers on quantum mechanics after taking
of these letters. a mistress at the age of 37.
David Fairlie
Centre for Particle Theory, Durham University, UK
Daresbury reacts david.fairlie@durham.ac.uk

c d There are some rather more positive

Single-electron events build up over a 20 minute
exposure to form an interference pattern in this
elements in the mix of fortunes for the
Daresbury Laboratory than your news
i-science is i-deal
double-slit experiment by Akira Tonomura and
co-workers. (a) 8 electrons, (b) 270 electrons,
story implies (April p5). Our Your news story (February p8) reports
(c) 2000 electrons, (d) 60 000 electrons. A video of disappointment that the SIRIUS nuclear- enthusiastically about Leicester
this experiment will soon be available on the Web physics part of the CASIM proposal for the University’s “new” i-science degree. I
(kenkai.hqrd.hitachi.co.jp/em/index.html). lab will not be funded is more than offset by suppose that all degree courses are unique
the support obtained for the imaging part in the same way that all people are unique.
extremely low electron intensities – fewer of CASIM, the HPCx supercomputer and However, I am somewhat surprised at the
than 1000 electrons a second – so there was the SuperSTEM electron microscope. It inference that a move to “interdisciplinary”
no chance of finding two or more electrons was unfortunate that Physics World went to or “integrated” science is a new idea at
in the apparatus at the same time. This press just before the announcement of undergraduate level. Here at Canterbury
removed any possibility that the fringes £11.5m in funding for the Fourth Christ Church University College we have
might be due to interactions between the Generation Light Source (4GLS) project. been teaching degrees of this type with
electrons, as had been suspected by some The addition of 4GLS to the Daresbury titles such as natural science, science,
physicists, such as Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. research portfolio ensures a bright future science (natural) for over 25 years.
(b) We developed a position-sensitive for the lab and for UK science in general. These degrees are – just like Leicester’s
electron-counting system that was modified Peter Weightman new course – “targeted at students who
from the photon-counting image- Chairman, CASIM and 4GLS steering committee have an interest in science but who do not
acquisition system produced by Hamamatsu Liverpool University, UK want to specialize in any one area”.
Photonics. In this system, the formation of peterw@liv.ac.uk Recruitment here has, against the national
fringes could be observed as a time series; the trend, been slowly improving over the
electrons were accumulated over time years. Many of our graduates go into
gradually to form an interference pattern on
the monitor (similar to a long exposure with
Creative urges teaching or the media – two of the potential
career paths that the Leicester course is
a photographic film). The electrons arrived In his article entitled “The Newton– catering for. In fact, a number of joint-
at random positions on the detector only Beethoven analogy”, Robert Crease honours students combine media-type
once in a while and it took more than 20 compares and contrasts creativity in art and courses with their science.
minutes for the interference pattern to form science (April p16). According to the analogy, Leicester’s course tutor Derek Raine is
(see above). To film the build-up process, the calculus, for example, would eventually right about one thing – interdisciplinary
electron source, the electron biprism and the have been discovered even if Newton had degrees do not “dumb down” science.
rest of the experiment had to be extremely never lived – but without Beethoven we Indeed, our experience is that the best
stable. If the interference pattern had drifted would never have the C-Minor Symphony. students are perfectly capable of going on
by a fraction of fringe spacing over the Although Crease traces the analogy back to further study, some having obtained
exposure time, the whole fringe pattern to Einstein, I attribute it to the British PhDs in subjects such as medical physics.
would have disappeared. sculptor Henry Moore who compared Kevin Carlton
(c) The electrons arriving at the detector special relativity with Beethoven’s Ninth Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK
were detected with almost 100% efficiency. Symphony. Moore wanted to show that k.j.carlton@canterbury.ac.uk
Counting losses and noise in conventional artistic creativity is unique but that scientific
TV cameras mean that it is difficult to know creativity involves discovering what is
if each flash of the screen really
corresponds to an individual electron.
already out there. What Moore failed to
realize, however, is that all physicists have
Optics in the open
Therefore, the detection error in our their own style and that there are many John Wesson wonders what caused the
experiment was limited to less than 1%. ways to a particular solution. rainbow that he saw in the grass while out
We believe that we carried out the first One interesting question that Crease playing golf early one morning (March
experiment in which the build-up process does not address is why scientific creativity p20). The phenomenon is one of the many
of an interference pattern from single- tails off as a researcher ages. Many artists explained in Marcel Minnaert’s excellent
electron events could be seen in real time, and musicians, in contrast, keep going at a Light and Colour in the Open Air (1940 Bell).
as in Feynman’s famous double-slit high level into old age. Moore himself The book – now published by Springer as
Gedanken experiment. This was under the comes to mind, as do Goya, Janacek, Light and Colour in the Outdoors – is a treasure-
condition, we emphasize, that there was no Monet, Picasso, Richard Strauss, trove of such natural phenomena. The
chance of finding two or more electrons in Vaughan-Williams, Verdi and Wagner. reason why such “dew-bows” are relatively
the apparatus. Interestingly, poetry is different; the quality uncommon is that lots of dew-drops are
Akira Tonomura of work of poets such as Wordsworth needed to produce a strong effect.
Advanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi, declined steeply as they got older. David Briers
Saitama, Japan Another difference is that artistic Llanfyrnach, UK
tonomura@harl.hitachi.co.jp endeavours are often inspired by human davidbriers@btopenworld.com

PHYSICS WORLD MAY 2003 physicsweb.org 21