Matter-wave interference of a native polypeptide

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates matter-wave interference of a native polypeptide, showing quantum coherence in biologically relevant molecules, which opens new avenues for quantum metrology and spectroscopy of biomolecules.

Contribution

First demonstration of matter-wave interference with a native polypeptide, using an all-optical time-domain interferometer, bridging quantum physics and biology.

Findings

Observed interference fringes for gramicidin despite tiny de Broglie wavelength

Quantum coherence delocalized over more than 20 times the molecular size

Model including quantum wave nature and optical properties matches experimental results

Abstract

The de Broglie wave nature of matter is a paradigmatic example of fundamental quantum physics and enables precise measurements of forces, fundamental constants and even material properties. However, even though matter-wave interferometry is nowadays routinely realized in many laboratories, this feat has remained an outstanding challenge for the vast class of native polypeptides, the building blocks of life, which are ubiquitous in biology but fragile and difficult to handle. Here, we demonstrate the quantum wave nature of gramicidin, a natural antibiotic composed of 15 amino acids. Femtosecond laser desorption of a thin biomolecular film with intensities up to 1~TW/cm$^2$ transfers these molecules into a cold noble gas jet. Even though the peptide's de Broglie wavelength is as tiny as 350~fm, the molecular coherence is delocalized over more than 20 times the molecular size in our all-optical time-domain Talbot-Lau interferometer. We compare the observed interference fringes for two different interference orders with a model that includes both a rigorous treatment of the peptide's quantum wave nature as well as a quantum chemical assessment of its optical properties to distinguish our result from classical predictions. The successful realization of quantum optics with this polypeptide as a prototypical biomolecule paves the way for quantum-assisted molecule metrology and in particular the optical spectroscopy of a large class of biologically relevant molecules.