Visibility Fringe Reduction Due to Noise-Induced Effects: Microscopic Approach to Interference Experiments

TL;DR

This paper investigates how noise-induced decoherence affects interference patterns in matter wave experiments with large molecules, analyzing visibility fringe reduction and timescales for decoherence effects.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic approach to model decoherence effects in interference experiments and applies it to experimental data involving fullerenes and cold neutrons.

Findings

Decoherence significantly reduces fringe visibility in large molecule interference.

The timescale for decoherence depends on environmental interactions and object mass.

The model aligns well with experimental observations for fullerenes and neutrons.

Abstract

Decoherence is the main process behind the quantum to classical transition. It is a purely quantum mechanical effect by which the system looses its ability to exhibit coherent behavior. The recent experimental observation of diffraction and interference patterns for large molecules raises some interesting questions. In this context, we identify possible agents of decoherence to take into account when modeling these experiments and study theirs visible (or not) effects on the interference pattern. Thereby, we present an analysis of matter wave interferometry in the presence of a dynamic quantum environment and study how much the visibility fringe is reduced and in which timescale the decoherence effects destroy the interference of massive objects. Finally, we apply our results to the experimental data reported on fullerenes and cold neutrons.