Kapitza–Dirac effect
E168971
The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Kapitza–Dirac effect canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1478685 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Kapitza–Dirac effect Context triple: [Peter Kapitza, knownFor, Kapitza–Dirac effect]
-
A.
Szilard–Chalmers effect
The Szilard–Chalmers effect is a nuclear chemistry phenomenon in which atoms that undergo neutron capture and become radioactive are chemically separated from their original, non-activated atoms due to recoil-induced disruption of their chemical bonds.
-
B.
Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
-
C.
Faraday effect
The Faraday effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which the polarization plane of light is rotated as it passes through a material under the influence of a magnetic field aligned with the direction of propagation.
-
D.
Unruh effect
The Unruh effect is a predicted phenomenon in quantum field theory where an accelerating observer perceives what inertial observers consider vacuum as a warm bath of particles with a characteristic temperature.
-
E.
Zeeman effect
The Zeeman effect is the splitting of atomic or molecular spectral lines into multiple components when subjected to an external magnetic field, revealing information about energy levels and magnetic moments.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Kapitza–Dirac effect Target entity description: The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
-
A.
Szilard–Chalmers effect
The Szilard–Chalmers effect is a nuclear chemistry phenomenon in which atoms that undergo neutron capture and become radioactive are chemically separated from their original, non-activated atoms due to recoil-induced disruption of their chemical bonds.
-
B.
Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
-
C.
Faraday effect
The Faraday effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which the polarization plane of light is rotated as it passes through a material under the influence of a magnetic field aligned with the direction of propagation.
-
D.
Unruh effect
The Unruh effect is a predicted phenomenon in quantum field theory where an accelerating observer perceives what inertial observers consider vacuum as a warm bath of particles with a characteristic temperature.
-
E.
Zeeman effect
The Zeeman effect is the splitting of atomic or molecular spectral lines into multiple components when subjected to an external magnetic field, revealing information about energy levels and magnetic moments.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
diffraction effect
ⓘ
light–matter interaction ⓘ quantum phenomenon ⓘ |
| appliedIn |
beam splitters for matter-wave interferometers
ⓘ
manipulation of ultracold atoms in optical lattices ⓘ precision measurements with cold atoms ⓘ testing fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| demonstrates |
coherent scattering of matter waves
ⓘ
matter-wave diffraction ⓘ wave–particle duality of matter ⓘ |
| dependsOn |
initial momentum of the particles
ⓘ
intensity of the standing light wave ⓘ interaction time between particles and light field ⓘ wavelength of the light ⓘ |
| describedAs | diffraction of matter waves by a light grating ⓘ |
| field |
atom optics
ⓘ
electron optics ⓘ quantum mechanics ⓘ quantum optics ⓘ |
| firstAtomOpticsObservation | atom Kapitza–Dirac diffraction ⓘ |
| firstExperimentalObservation | electron Kapitza–Dirac diffraction ⓘ |
| governingPrinciple |
Bragg diffraction of matter waves
ⓘ
conservation of energy and momentum ⓘ quantum interference ⓘ |
| involves |
atoms
ⓘ
beam of particles ⓘ electrons ⓘ photon momentum transfer ⓘ standing wave of light ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Paul Dirac
ⓘ
surface form:
Paul A. M. Dirac
Peter Kapitza ⓘ
surface form:
Pyotr Kapitza
|
| predictedBy |
Paul Dirac
ⓘ
surface form:
Paul A. M. Dirac
Peter Kapitza ⓘ
surface form:
Pyotr Kapitza
|
| predictionYear | 1933 ⓘ |
| regime |
Bragg regime
ⓘ
Raman–Nath regime ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Bragg's law
ⓘ
surface form:
Bragg scattering
Talbot effect ⓘ atom interferometer ⓘ de Broglie wavelength formula ⓘ
surface form:
de Broglie wavelength
electron diffraction ⓘ matter-wave interferometry ⓘ optical lattice ⓘ |
| requires |
coherent particle beam
ⓘ
intense laser field ⓘ |
| resultsIn |
discrete diffraction orders in momentum space
ⓘ
momentum transfer in units of photon momentum ⓘ |
| uses | optical standing wave as diffraction grating ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Kapitza–Dirac effect Description of subject: The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.