First experimental evidence for quantum echoes in scattering systems

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Sep 24;93(13):134102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.134102. Epub 2004 Sep 23.

Abstract

A self-pulsing effect termed quantum echoes has been observed in experiments with an open superconducting and a normal conducting microwave billiard whose geometry provides soft chaos, i.e., a mixed phase space portrait with a large stable island. For such systems a periodic response to an incoming pulse has been predicted. Its period has been associated with the degree of development of a horseshoe describing the topology of the classical dynamics. The experiments confirm this picture and reveal the topological information.