Related papers: Impact of molecular properties on diffraction at n…
Matter-wave interferometry has become an essential tool in studies on the foundations of quantum physics and for precision measurements. Mechanical gratings have played an important role as coherent beamsplitters for atoms, molecules and…
Even 100 years after its introduction by Louis de Broglie, the wave-nature of matter is often regarded as a mind-boggling phenomenon. To give an intuitive introduction to this field, we here discuss the diffraction of massive molecules…
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…
Fabricating patterned nanostructures with matter waves can help to realise new nanophotonic devices. However, due to dispersion effects, designing patterns with nanoscale features is challenging. Here, we consider the propagation of a…
The diffraction of atoms and molecules through tiny, sub-nanometre holes in atomically thin membranes is a promising approach for advancing atom interferometry sensing and atomic holography. However, dispersion interactions, such as the…
In atom optics a material structure is commonly regarded as an amplitude mask for atom waves. However, atomic diffraction patterns formed using material gratings indicate that material structures also operate as phase masks. In this study a…
We discuss recent advances towards matter-wave interference experiments with free beams of metallic and dielectric nanoparticles. They require a brilliant source, an efficient detection scheme and a coherent method to divide the de Broglie…
The wave-particle duality of massive objects is a cornerstone of quantum physics and a key property of many modern tools such as electron microscopy, neutron diffraction or atom interferometry. Here we report on the first experimental…
Scattering of electromagnetic waves by an arbitrary nanoscale object can be characterized by a multipole decomposition of the electromagnetic field that allows to describe the scattering intensity and radiation pattern through interferences…
Matter-wave interferometry with nanoparticles will enable the development of quantum sensors capable of probing ultraweak fields with unprecedented applications for fundamental physics. The high sensitivity of such devices however makes…
Atom-surface interactions can significantly modify the intensity and phase of atom de Broglie waves diffracted by a silicon nitride grating. This affects the operation of a material grating as a coherent beam splitter. The phase shift…
A few years ago, diffraction of atoms by double slits and gratings was achieved for the first time, and standard optical wave-theory provided an excellent description of the experiments. More recently, diffraction of weakly bound molecules…
Fast, large area patterning of arbitrary structures down to the nanometre scale is of great interest for a range of applications including the semiconductor industry, quantum electronics, nanophotonics and others. It was recently proposed…
We present a theoretical model of matter-wave diffraction through a material nanostructure. This model is based on the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr{\"o}dinger equation, which goes beyond the standard semi-classical…
We show that periodically doped, flat surfaces can act as reflective diffraction gratings for atomic and molecular matter waves. The diffraction element is realized by exploiting that charged dopants locally suppress quantum reflection from…
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…
The short diffusion lengths in insertion battery nanoparticles render the capacitive behavior of bounded diffusion, which is rarely observable with conventional larger particles, now accessible to impedance measurements. Coupled with…
A new numerical method is introduced for calculating the polarizability of an arbitrary dielectric object with position dependent complex permittivity. Three separate numerical approaches are provided to calculate the dipole moment of a…
Optically resonant particles are key building blocks of many nanophotonic devices such as optical antennas and metasurfaces. Because the functionalities of such devices are largely determined by the optical properties of individual…
High-index spherical nanoparticles with low material losses support sharp high-Q electric and magnetic resonances and exhibit a number of interesting optical phenomena. Developments in fabrication techniques have enabled the further study…