Hulet, Randall G.2009-06-042009-06-041991Ritchie, Nicholas William Miller. "Measuring the weak value in an optical experiment." (1991) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13508">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13508</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13508The first experimental realization of a measurement of the weak value of a variable, a concept recently introduced by Aharonov, Albert and Vaidman, is presented. Weak measurements (measurements of a weak value) address the situation in which the separation of the eigenvalues caused by a weakly interacting measurement device is small compared to the width of the distribution of the individual eigenvalues. By appropriate choice of the pre- and post-selected state it is possible that the overlapping eigenvalues will interfere producing a value outside the range of eigenvalues. We demonstrate that the weak value is a practical method of amplifying and resolving the separation between overlapping eigenvalues in an optical experiment proposed by Duck, Stevenson and Sudarshan. In this experiment a birefringent crystal spatially separates two linear polarization components of a Gaussian laser beam by a distance much smaller than the beam waist.58 p.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.OpticsThesisThesis Phys. 1991 Ritchie