Andrew Briggs: The Oxford Questions – and some answers

Monday, March 9, 2015 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Andrew Briggs, Oxford

At a conference in Oxford in 2010 a set of questions was formulated with a view to establishing an agenda for subsequent research in quantum reality. Some of these questions are open to experimental investigation. We have since performed tests of the Leggett-Garg inequality in two and in three level systems, in each case violating the condition for macrorealism. We are now addressing another of the questions in single molecule devices using nanofabricated gaps in graphene. Single molecule devices can now be made reliably which show quantised behaviour with energy levels well above room temperature. Although tests of reality and developments of technology might seem to be opposite motivations, the materials and techniques required coincide very closely, since in both cases the aim is to extend the degree of macroscopicity in which non-classical phenomena can be controlled and measured.