Stern-Gerlach Experiment

Tharan Tejas

Research Advisor: Dr Sergei Dyda

August 2023

1 Abstract
The Stern-Gerlach experiment is one of the most crucial experiments in the
transition between classical mechanics and quantum theory. The experiment
involves firing silver particles into an inhomogeneous magnetic field directed
in a particular direction. Due to the magnetic field there is a force, which
acts on the magnetic moment thus changing the direction of the atoms. The
silver atoms exiting the field are measured on a screen, and their deflection is
measured. The observed deflection shows the electron spin is S = ± h̄2 , unlike
the classical prediction which allows the the spin to take a range of values. The
results of the experiment are fascinating and provide ground breaking proof for
Quantum Theory. These results were unable to be explained by classical models
and hence it plays an important role in the foundation of Quantum Mechanics.

2 The overview of the system

A silver atom consists of 47 electrons. The total spin angular momentum of
46 electrons cancel out. So the total spin angular moment of a silver atom is
basically the spin angular momentum of 1 electron and the nucleus. Due to the
electron being charged and having spin angular moment, it creates a magnetic
moment. The magnetic moment is given by µ. However as seen in the equation
the larger the mass, the lower the magnetic moment. Hence the nucleus of the
silver which is, comparing to the electron, has a very high mass. Therefore it
has a very small magnetic moment, which is negligible. So the total magnetic
moment of the silver atom is virtually the magnetic moment of a single electron.

gq ⃗
µ
⃗= S (1)
2mc

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 ⃗ is the spin
g is a dimensionless factor that depends on the particle species. S
angular momentum and q is the charge of the particle. In the case of electron,
g = 2 and q = −e. Let us assume, initially the inhomogeneous magnetic field
is pointed in the z-direction. Before the silver atoms are fired, we assume the
magnetic moment µ ⃗ and S ⃗ to make an angle θ with the z axis. When we
measure the projection of the spin angular momentum on the z axis, Sz it takes
a range of values. Hence µz should also take continuous values. Classically, when
the silver atoms are fired and when they exit the magnetic field, our classical
analysis predicts that there should be a range of magnetic moments coming out.
However the experiment shows we only get 2 values of µz corresponding to 2
discrete value of Sz , + h̄2 and − h̄2 (as shown in diagram below).

Figure 1: Stern Gerlach Experiment

We would define the inhomogeneous magnetic field along a direction n as

SGn device. When the silver atoms enter the SGz device we measure the spin
angular momentum, Sz . If we measure the Sz to be + h̄2 then we define the
particle to be in state | + z > (spin up state), and if we measure it to be − h̄2
then we define the particle to be in state | − z > (spin down state). The silver
atoms passing through the SG device would always be deflected as either up
or down. They are then observed by the detector. In the following sections,
we will discuss various Stern-Gerlach experiments and how the results of such
experiments can be explained mathematically.

3 Experiments

Experiment 1: Suppose we fire silver atoms at the SGz device. The probability
of finding the particle to be in states | + z > and | − z > would be half. If we
block the path of the | − z > state then place another SGz device, we would
always measure the particle coming out of the second SG device as | + z > (as
shown in the diagram).

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 Experiment 2: In experiment 2, we fire the silver atom first at SGz device,
and then block the path of the | − z > states. The | + z > states then enter
the SGx device. The particles coming out would be in either | + x > state or
| − x > state, with 50% probability respectively.

Experiment 3: In the experiment 3, the | − x > states coming out of experi-

ment 2 is blocked and the | + x > states enter another SGz device (as shown in
the 3rd experiment in the diagram below). After the particles exit the second
SGz device we would expect it to always be in | + z > state since we already
measured it to be in | + z > state at the beginning. Our intuition tells us that
this experiment should behave in the same way as the experiment 1, and that
measuring Sx in between should not change the final results. However when the
particles come out of the three SG devices there is a 50-50 probability of the
particle being either spin up or spin down.

Figure 2: Stern Gerlach Experiments

This result is very intriguing and counter-intuitive. But this behaviour can
be explained using various mathematical tools and some powerful notations.
The state of the particle is represented as |Ψ >. The state |+z > and |−z >
are defined to be our basis vectors, and that any other state can be written as
some linear combination of these two states. It can be mathematically written
as,

|Ψ >= c1 | + z > +c2 | − z > (2)

where c1 and c2 are complex numbers. The constants are written as,

c1 =< +z|Ψ > (3)

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 c2 =< −z|Ψ > (4)

The probability of measuring the state |Ψ > to be in states | + z > and

| − z > are |c1 |2 and |c2 |2 respectively. The probability of the state | + z > being
in the state | − z > and vice versa is zero. This is because we define the system
such that the particle cannot be in both spin up and spin down state. This is
known as the orthogonal property. It is written mathematically as,

< ±z| ∓ z >= 0 (5)

The vectors < +z| and < −z| are simply the conjugate transpose of the
vectors | + z > and | − z > respectively. The vectors in the form < +z| are
called the bra vectors (this can be thought of a row vector). And the vectors
|+z > are known as the kets (this can be thought of a column vector). Together
they form the bra-ket notation. < +z|Ψ > is known as the inner product of
| + z > with |Ψ >. It is basically an extension of the dot product, to generalised
vector spaces.

Coming back, if we take |Ψ > to be | + x > then the probability of | + x >

being in states | + z > and | − z > are half. So c1 = √12 and c2 = √12 . Then the
state | + x > is written as:
1 1
| + x >= √ | + z > + √ | − z > (6)
2 2

The probability of | − x > being in states | − z > and | + z > would also be
half. But there is also another constraint, < ±x| ∓ x > equals to zero, since the
two states are defined to be orthogonal to each other.

< +x| = √1 < +z| + √1 < −z|

2 2

| − x >= ± √12 | + z > ± √12 | − z >

Then, < +x| − x >= ± 12 | + z > ± 12 | − z >, in order for it to be zero, the
probability amplitude for | + z > and | − z > in the state | − x > must be √12
and − √12 respectively, hence the state is written as:
1 1
| − x >= √ | + z > − √ | − z > (7)
2 2

There is also another constant in addition to orthogonality. All the above

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states must always be normalised. Basically the probability of the state |Ψ >
being in the state |Ψ > must be 1.

< Ψ|Ψ >= 1 (8)

Since the states | + z > and | − z > are orthonormal, they are accepted as
the basis vector in this abstract vector space. The states | + x > and | − x >
can also act as our basis vectors. However for simplicity | + z > and | − z > are
defined to be the basis for our space.

4 Spin Operators and Expectation Values

When the particle first enters the SGz device, it is in the state |Ψ > but the
particles exit the device either in the state |+z > (spin up) or in the state |−z >
(spin down). This can be thought as a matrix acting on a vector, transforming
it into a new vector. So the act of the measuring the particle as it goes through
SGz device can be considered as an operator, Sz acting on the initial state |Ψ >
transforming it to either spin up or spin down state. The operator Sz is defined
as,
h̄ −h̄
Sz = | + z >< +z| + | − z >< −z| (9)
2 2

If the operator is acted on the state | + z > it gives,

Sz | + z >= ( h̄2 | + z >< +z| − h̄2 | − z >< −z|)| + z >

Sz = h̄2 | + z >< +z| + z > − h̄2 | − z >< −z| + z >

h̄
Sz | + z >= |+z > (10)
2
h̄
Sz | − z >= − | − z > (11)
2

The equation (10) and (11) are known as the eigenfunction equations for the
spin operator, Sz . The states | + z > and | − z > are called as the eigenvectors
of the operator, with corresponding eigenvalues h̄2 and − h̄2 .

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 Since the vectors | + z > and | − z > are the basis vectors, the operator in
equation (9) can be written in a matrix form. It is defined as,

 
h̄ 1 0
Sz = (12)
2 0 −1

 
1 0
where, σz = . This is one of the Pauli Matrices. The spin operator
0 −1
along the x direction, Sx can also be written as a matrix in the basis states of
| + z > and | − z >.

 
h̄ 0 1
Sx = (13)
2 1 0

 
0 1
where, σx = is also one of the Pauli Matrices. Using these matrices
1 0
the calculations become much more simpler.

These operators such as, Sz and Sz or any operator that has a corresponding
measurable eigenvalue have a special property in quantum mechanics. They are
hermitian operators. An operator is defined as hermitian when:

Q = (Q∗ )T = Q† (14)

Q† , pronounced ¨Q dagger¨ is the transpose conjugate of Q. All the hermi-

tian operators have a very useful property that makes them very special. The
eigenvalues of such operators are always real. Note that we define our vector
space to be complex so the eigenvalues can ¨theoretically¨ also be complex. But
the eigenvalues are basically nothing but the result we get in lab so they should
always be real. Conveniently we can state that every operator corresponding to
every physically measurable observable are hermitian operators. This ensures
us that all the eigenvalues we get in our calculations are real.

Another main idea in quantum mechanics is the expectation value. Expec-

tation value is the average result, if an observable Q is measured multiple times
on an ensemble of identical states |Ψ >. This can be thought of as the average
result of many measurements of the observable associated with Q. It is defined
as,

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 < Q >=< Ψ|Q̂|Ψ > (15)

Note that since the Q operator is hermitian so the expectation value can
also be written as,

< Q >=< Q̂Ψ|Ψ >

If the initial state of the particle is | + x > and if we measure Sz , then the
expectation value is written as,

< Sz >=< +x|Sz | + x >

< Sz >=< +x|( h̄2 | + z >< +z| − h̄2 | − z >< −z|)| + x >

h̄
< Sz >= 2 < +x| + z >< +z| + x > − h̄2 < +x| − z >< −z| + x >

< +x| + z >=< +x| − z >= √1 , from equation 6.

2

< Sz >= 0

The expectation value is zero, because there is 50-50 chance of the state
being spin up | + z > with Sz = h̄2 and spin down | − z > with Sz = − h̄2 and
the average result is zero.

5 SG device along Nth direction

We had previously defined | + z >, | − z >, | + x > and | − x >. The states
| + z and | − z > are the spin up and spin down state when a particle goes
through a SGz device. The states | + x > and | + x > are the spin up and spin
down states when the particle goes through a SGx device (when we measure
Sx ). SGx device is basically an inhomogeneous magnetic field directed in the
x-direction. Now we want the spin up and spin down states when a particle
goes through a SG device directed along the y-direction, SGy .

We can define the spin up state when we measure Sy as | + y > and the spin
down state as | − y >. There are some constrains the states have to follow. The
states should be orthonormal, so < ±y| ∓ y >= 0 and < ±y| ± y >= 1 (Note:
We can use Kronecker-Delta to define the orthonormality condition).

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 When we fire | + x > particles into SGy there is 50-50 probability that
the particle exits as spin up or spin down, since the states are defined to be
orthogonal to each other. So we can write | < +y| ± x > |2 = 12 , | < −y| ± x >
|2 = 12 and also | < +y| ± z > |2 = 12 and | < −y| ± z > |2 = 21 .
There are 6 constrains on the states. Now instead of deriving the states, we
shall first define the states themselves. We can plug the below equations into
the constrains and check if they satisfy all the conditions.

1 i
| + y >= √ | + z > + √ | − z > (16)
2 2

1 i
| − y >= √ | + z > − √ | − z > (17)
2 2

We have defined the spin up and spin down states for magnetic field along x,
y and z axes. Now we will generalise this idea. Let us assume that the magnetic
field in pointed in Nth direction. The spin up and spin down states when we
measure Sn are defined as,

θ θ
| + n >= cos | + z > +eiϕ sin | − z > (18)
2 2

θ θ
| − n >= sin | + z > −eiϕ cos | − z > (19)
2 2

Figure 3: Spherical Coordinates

There are 4 conditions that these two states must satisfy:

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 1. When θ = 0 the vector as seen above in the picture lies in the positive z
axis hence the state | + n >= | + z > and | − n >= | − z >.

2. When θ = π , the vector lies in the negative z axis. Since n̂ itself is

pointed in the negative direction, | + n >= | − z > and | − n >= | + z >.

3. When θ = π2 and ϕ = 0 then the vector lies in the x axis, so |+n >= |+x >
and | − n >= | − x >.

π
4. When θ = 0 and ϕ = 2 then the vector lies in the y axis, so |+n >= |+y >
and | − n >= | − y >.

If we plug the values of θ and ϕ into the equations (18) and (19), we can see
that the 4 conditions holds.

If a measurement of Sz is made for a particle with a spin up state | + n >,

the expectation value would be,

< Sz >=< +n|Sz | + n >

< Sz >=< +n|( h̄2 | + z >< +z| − h̄2 | − z >< −z|)| + n >

< Sz >= h̄2 | < +z| + n > |2 − h̄2 | < −z| + n > |2

where, < +z| + n >= cos θ2

θ
| < +z| + n > |2 = cos2 2

< −z| + n >= eiϕ sin θ2

| < −z| + n > |2 = sin2 θ

2

so, < Sz >= h̄2 (cos2 θ

2 − sin2 θ2 )

h̄
< Sz >= cos θ (20)
2

We can conclude that the expectation value rotates in our abstract vector
space. When θ = 0, < Sz >= 0, this was the expectation value when a particle
with state | + x > enters the SGz device. The equation (20) is the most general
equation for the expectation value in Stern-Gerlach experiment.

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6 Conclusion

In this paper we have discussed the idea behind the Stern-Experiment. We have
used linear algebra as our language for explaining the interesting phenomenons
in this experiment. Stern-Gerlach experiment is one of the oldest Quantum
Mechanics experiment and it provides a good mathematical intuition for more
advanced concepts in Quantum Mechanics.

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