Discovering the puzzling behaviour of electrons with the Grimaldi-Young experiment

摘要

An experiment analogous to that devised by Grimaldi and subsequently repeated by Young to study the nature of light has been realized with electrons. Following the Grimaldi and Young line of thought, an original approach is presented to introduce undergraduate physics students to the wave behaviour of electrons. An electron microscope equipped with a low coherent source of electrons and a thin platinum wire, acting as an opaque obstacle, is used to reproduce the experimental conditions adopted by Grimaldi and Young with light. Electron interference fringes produced in the geometrical shadow of the obstacle are interpreted by assuming that electrons behave like a sound or a light wave. This hypothesis is confirmed by the modelling of the experimental electron interference patterns.