Related papers: Molecular Rotations in Matter-Wave Interferometry
Recent progress in matter-wave interferometry aims to directly probe the quantum properties of matter on ever increasing scales. However, in order to perform interferometric experiments with massive mesoscopic objects, taking into account…
Matter-wave interferometry with molecules is intriguing both because it demonstrates a fundamental quantum phenomenon and because it opens avenues to quantum-enhanced measurements in physical chemistry. One great challenge in such…
Optics and interferometry with matter waves is the art of coherently manipulating the translational motion of particles like neutrons, atoms and molecules. Coherent atom optics is an extension of techniques that were developed for…
Matter-wave interferometry with atoms and molecules has attracted a rapidly growing interest over the past two decades, both in demonstrations of fundamental quantum phenomena and in quantum-enhanced precision measurements. Such experiments…
Matter-wave optics is often viewed as a linear analogue of photonics, where noninteracting particles are coherently split, diffracted, and recombined, and interference arises from single-particle coherence. In ultracold quantum gases,…
A generalized description of Talbot-Lau interference with matter waves is presented, which accounts for arbitrary grating interactions and realistic beam characteristics. The dispersion interaction between the beam particles and the optical…
We establish that matter-wave interference at near-resonant ultraviolet optical gratings can be used to spatially separate individual conformers of complex molecules. Our calculations show that the conformational purity of the prepared beam…
Starting from an elementary model and refining it to take into account more realistic effects, we discuss the limitations and advantages of matter-wave interferometry in different configurations. We focus on the possibility to apply this…
We demonstrate a near-field Talbot-Lau interferometer for C-70 fullerene molecules. Such interferometers are particularly suitable for larger masses. Using three free-standing gold gratings of one micrometer period and a transversally…
Light is extensively used to steer the motion of atoms in free space, enabling cooling and trapping of matter waves through ponderomotive forces and Doppler-mediated photon scattering. Likewise, light interaction with free electrons has…
We present a theory for the diffraction of large molecules or nanoparticles at a standing light wave. Such particles can act as a genuine photon absorbers due to their numerous internal degrees of freedom effecting fast internal energy…
We review recent progress and future prospects of matter wave interferometry with complex organic molecules and inorganic clusters. Three variants of a near-field interference effect, based on diffraction by material nanostructures, at…
We study the possibility of detecting gravitational-waves with matter-wave interferometers, where atom beams are split, deflected and recombined totally by standing light waves. Our calculation shows that the phase shift is dominated by…
We discuss a novel application of matter wave interferometry to characterize the scalar optical polarizability of molecules at 532 nm. The interferometer presented here consists of two material absorptive gratings and one central optical…
The quantum wave nature of matter is a cornerstone of modern physics, which has been demonstrated for a wide range of fundamental and composite particles. While diffraction at nanomechanical masks is usually regarded to be independent of…
Diffraction gratings synthetically moving at trans-luminal velocities contain points where wave and grating velocities are equal. We show these points can be understood as a series of optical event horizons where wave energy can be trapped…
Advances in micro-technology of the last years have made it possible to carry optics textbooks experiments over to atomic and molecular beams, such as diffraction by a double slit or transmission grating. The usual wave-optical approach…
We investigate the dynamics of a rotating Morse wave packet, appropriate for a ro-vibrating diatomic molecule. The coupling between vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom is explicated in real position space as well as in phase space…
We report that metamaterial-inspired one-dimensional gratings (or metagratings) can be used to control nonpropagating diffraction orders as well as propagating ones. By accurate engineering of the near field, it becomes possible to satisfy…
The interaction of Na atoms with a surface was probed by inserting a nanofabricated material grating into one arm of an atom interferometer (IFM). This technique permits a direct measurement of the change in phase and coherence of matter…