A Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer for highly polarizable molecules

TL;DR

This paper presents the first experimental realization of a Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer that enables quantum interference with highly polarizable large molecules, overcoming previous velocity selection challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interferometer combining Talbot-Lau and optical phase gratings, allowing interference experiments with complex molecules.

Findings

Quantum interference demonstrated with large, highly polarizable molecules

The interferometer overcomes velocity selection constraints

Potential applications in exploring quantum-classical transition and molecular properties

Abstract

Research on matter waves is a thriving field of quantum physics and has recently stimulated many investigations with electrons, neutrons, atoms, Bose-condensed ensembles, cold clusters and hot molecules. Coherence experiments with complex objects are of interest for exploring the transition to classical physics, for measuring molecular properties and they have even been proposed for testing new models of space-time. For matter-wave experiments with complex molecules, the strongly dispersive effect of the interaction between the diffracted molecule and the grating wall is a major challenge because it imposes enormous constraints on the velocity selection of the molecular beam. We here describe the first experimental realization of a new interferometer that solves this problem by combining the advantages of a Talbot-Lau setup with the benefits of an optical phase grating and we show quantum interference with new large molecules.