A Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer for highly polarizable molecules
- Author(s)
- Stefan Gerlich, Lucia Hackermüller, Klaus Hornberger, Alexander Stibor, Hendrik Ulbricht, Michael Gring, Fabienne Goldfarb, Tim Savas, Marcel Müri, Marcel Mayor, Markus Arndt
- Abstract
Research on matter waves is a thriving field of quantum physics and has recently stimulated many investigations with electrons(1), neutrons(2), atoms(3), Bose-condensed ensembles(4), cold clusters(5) and hot molecules(6). Coherence experiments with complex objects are of interest for exploring the transition to classical physics(7-9), for measuring molecular properties(10), and they have even been proposed for testing new models of space-time(11). For matter-wave experiments with complex molecules, the strongly dispersive effect of the interaction between the diffracted molecule and the grating wall is a major challenge because it imposes enormous constraints on the velocity selection of the molecular beam(12). Here, we describe the first experimental realization of a new set-up that solves this problem by combining the advantages of a so-called Talbot-Lau interferometer(13) with the benefits of an optical phase grating.
- Organisation(s)
- Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information
- External organisation(s)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Universität Basel
- Journal
- Nature Physics
- Volume
- 3
- Pages
- 711-715
- No. of pages
- 5
- ISSN
- 1745-2473
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys701
- Publication date
- 2007
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103026 Quantum optics
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/a-kapitzadiractalbotlau-interferometer-for-highly-polarizable-molecules(214e3224-7678-4705-92f3-a40ea6c04eda).html