Collisional decoherence observed in matter wave interferometry
Quantum Physics
2009-11-10 v1
Abstract
We study the loss of spatial coherence in the extended wave function of fullerenes due to collisions with background gases. From the gradual suppression of quantum interference with increasing gas pressure we are able to support quantitatively both the predictions of decoherence theory and our picture of the interaction process. We thus explore the practical limits of matter wave interferometry at finite gas pressures and estimate the required experimental vacuum conditions for interferometry with even larger objects.
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0303093,
title = {Collisional decoherence observed in matter wave interferometry},
author = {Klaus Hornberger and Stefan Uttenthaler and Bjoern Brezger and Lucia Hackermueller and Markus Arndt and Anton Zeilinger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0303093},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures