How can Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle be experimentally confirmed? - by Mark John Fernee - Quora Question Review

This document contains a review of the answer by by Mark John Fernee on the question in Quora: "How can Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle be experimentally confirmed?"
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Reflection

• Reflection 1 - Question Review

1. Answer Review

Yes. If you plot the quasiprobability distribution of the vacuum state you obtain a 2D Gaussian centered on the origin. These are vacuum fluctuations, otherwise known as shot noise, and correspond to the minimum uncertainty of position and momentum of a vacuum field mode. These experiments are done using a laser local oscillator mixed with the vacuum state in a beam splitter. The detection is done via a balanced homodyne arrangement that can reveal the quadrature phases. This technology has been around for many decades. Such systems are used to evaluate squeezed vacuums, where the fluctuations in one field quadrature is suppressed at the expense of the fluctuations in the other in order to satisfy the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In general, measurements that reach the limit of uncertainty described by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle are referred to as Heisenberg-limited measurements.

My apologies for the amount of jargon in this answer. It's just far more difficult to explain every point in detail. The jargon is a form of shorthand that you can easily use in searches to find more details of these techniques.

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