Abstract

One of the most surprising features of measurements in quantum mechanics is that the act of measurement changes the state of the system which has been observed. Misra and Sudarshan [ 1 ] pointed out that an unstable quantum system could be prevented from decaying by continuously observing its undecayed state. Evidence for such an inhibited decay has not been clearly identified as it has proved impossible to make measurements on a sufficiently fast time scale.

© 1996 Optical Society of America