Coherence in the presence of absorption and heating in a molecule interferometer
- Author(s)
- J. P. Cotter, S. Eibenberger, L. Mairhofer, X. Cheng, P. Asenbaum, M. Arndt, K. Walter, S. Nimmrichter, K. Hornberger
- Abstract
Matter-wave interferometry can be used to probe the foundations of physics and to enable precise measurements of particle properties and fundamental constants. It relies on beam splitters that coherently divide the wave function. In atom interferometers, such elements are often realised using lasers by exploiting the dipole interaction or through photon absorption. It is intriguing to extend these ideas to complex molecules where the energy of an absorbed photon can rapidly be redistributed across many internal degrees of freedom. Here, we provide evidence that center-of-mass coherence can be maintained even when the internal energy and entropy of the interfering particle are substantially increased by absorption of photons from a standing light wave. Each photon correlates the molecular center-of-mass wave function with its internal temperature and splits it into a superposition with opposite momenta in addition to the beam-splitting action of the optical dipole potential.
- Organisation(s)
- Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Duisburg-Essen
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Volume
- 6
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8336
- Publication date
- 06-2015
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103026 Quantum optics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General, General Physics and Astronomy, General Chemistry, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/c14db644-e0d8-48ab-977a-18bf1d371092