Determining Electron Dipole: Experiments & Results

[LitleBang]

Does anyone now what kind of experiment they used to determine that the electron is a dipole?

 

[vanhees71]

It's the Stern-Gerlach experiment performed in Frankfurt am Main in 1923 by Stern and Gerlach with a fundamental result showing the quantum nature of the electron's magnetic dipole moment (related to its spin). So one should move this thread to the quantum forum.

 

[BvU]

In case you mean electric dipole:
Theory ?

That it's not a dipole: Hinds and Ytterbium

 

[phyzguy]

The idea that the electron has spin and consequently a magnetic moment was initially proposed to explain details of atomic spectra. According to Wikipedia,

"The idea of a spin angular momentum was first proposed in a 1925 publication by George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit to explain hyperfine splitting in atomic spectra.[n 3] In 1928, Paul Dirac provided a rigorous theoretical foundation for the concept in the Dirac equation for the wavefunction of the electron.[n 4]"

Now, there are many techniques that are used, some involving spectra and some involving isolated electrons, like this link.