Continuous Stern-Gerlach effect: Noise and the measurement process

Abstract

This paper resumes the discussion of the continuous Stern-Gerlach effect, a method to continuously and nondestructively determine the spin state of the same individual electron, quasipermanently confined in a Penning trap in ultrahigh vacuum at liquid helium temperatures. Here the focus is on limitations to spin-state detection due to thermal and zero-point noise and on the quantum-mechanical measurement process. Illustrations of the continuous spin measurement process in the presence of selected perturbations are provided. The alteration of the spin state brought about by the frequency measurement process is exhibited. To resolve Zeno's paradox in a specific example, a slow resonant spin flip is discussed, when interrupted by frequent spin-state measurements. The continuous Stern-Gerlach effect is shown to be a near-ideal example for the quantum mechanical measurement process, for which all steps may be followed in quantitative detail.