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Doing a search on electron diffraction this, for example http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/davger2.html , the evidence does not look overwhelming for the significance of the deBroglie wavelength.

Do electron diffraction or other experiments give results that can be predicted using the precise value of the deBroglie wavelength ?

Davvison and Germer showed there is what looks like an interference pattern.But could this be just because of a pattern produced by the crystal lattice ?

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  • $\begingroup$ Atomic physics offers plenty of highly precise evidence for the validity of quantum mechanics. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    May 26, 2016 at 16:45
  • $\begingroup$ I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it shows a lack of background research. $\endgroup$
    – DilithiumMatrix
    May 26, 2016 at 18:19

1 Answer 1

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It is possible to perform the Double-Slit Experiment using electrons. The resulting diffraction pattern matches that predicted by quantum mechanics, with characteristics defined by the deBroglie wavelength of the electrons. When I was in college, I watched a Professor perform this experiment in class.

No other theory ever devised, aside from QM, explains this diffraction pattern.

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  • $\begingroup$ How did they show the pattern in your college experiment? I have never seen it in person. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    May 26, 2016 at 17:44
  • $\begingroup$ He had a detector that only detected electrons scattered in a narrow angle. He rotated it through different angles and had the class count out ticks per minute. He wrote the numbers on the chalkboard, and the pattern emerged. $\endgroup$
    – user3294068
    May 26, 2016 at 18:15
  • $\begingroup$ All of this in a vacuum? It sounds like a scattering experiment, but not like an electron double slit. See e.g. link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01342460 for an experiment of that kind. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    May 26, 2016 at 18:23
  • $\begingroup$ My question is not about QM. It is about the deBroglie wavelength only. $\endgroup$
    – user1894243
    May 26, 2016 at 18:25
  • $\begingroup$ @CuriousOne It was definitely a double-slit experiment. Electrons were fired from a source, down a tube at a pair of slits. Beyond that was a movable arm at the end of which was a detector. The arm could rotate around an axis that coincided with the slits. Entire apparatus was evacuated. $\endgroup$
    – user3294068
    May 26, 2016 at 18:31

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