This question is a follow-up to Question #290 and Question #291.
For this question we will use the optical system seen at the left below, consisting (left to right) of a (white) light, an etched glass screen to diffuse the light, a (negative) yellow filter, a variety of optical elements housed in small aluminum cubes open on two ends, such as the ones shown in the photographs, and a digital camera, looking backward (through the little cubic optical elements) along the optic axis of the system.
Shown in the photograph above are cubes representing the three Pauli spin matrices and the "identity" matrix I. Here the matrices are written out:
Part 1. For each of the configurations below determine what you will see when you look backward toward the light through the cubes involved.
Below is a photograph of the cube marked "I" in the optical setup. Click on the photograph to see a number of experiments performed with that cube.
Part 2. What is in the cube marked "I"?
Click here for Answer #292 after October 15, 2007.
