Welcome to the next installment of the “Quantum Leap Beginner Guides”, aimed at audiences without physics training and using only the most basic math (and even then, only when necessary). So far in this series we have reviewed the general concept of Quantum Mechanics, how quantum mechanics are leveraged via Qubits to take advantage of Wave-Particle Duality, Superposition, and Entanglement. I hope these earlier guides enabled readers to get a general sense of how we are now using some of the features of quantum mechanics to perform tasks and calculations never before possible. This introductory series now turns to the Observer Effect, another profound quantum property, although this quantum mechanical principle provides added challenges to leveraging quantum mechanics for useful applications.
At its core, the Observer Effect means that the simple act of observing a quantum property changes that property. It’s as if the photon or electron somehow knows it’s being watched and immediately stops what it was doing.
You may recall from the prior Wave-Particle Duality post that photons and electrons have wave characteristics, as elegantly proven by various versions of the famous “double-slit experiment.”
In panel (a) above, when a wave passes through the two slits, an interference pattern appears on…
