Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 4: Poster Teilchenoptik

Q 4.2: Poster

Friday, March 4, 2005, 11:00–12:30, Poster HU

Matter wave interferometry as a tool for the investigation of low energy collisions — •Ivan Sherstov, Horst Knöckel, and Eberhard Tiemann — Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Matter wave interferometry with light-induced beam splitters is a very powerful tool in high precision spectroscopy. Additionally, it is used to investigate collisional properties in an atomic or molecular medium like matter wave index of refraction, etc. [1-2].

The main goal of our project is to investigate the suitability and the precision of matter wave interferometry for study of weak interactions like cold collisions or weak external fields. We apply the matter wave interferometry on K₂ molecules to examine "cold" collisions in a supersonic potassium beam between atoms and molecules [3]. K₂ molecules propagate through an atomic medium and hence gain some additional phase shift due to cold collisions (coresponding to 16 K) with the atoms. By changing the medium’s properties (like exciting K atoms to a higher electronic state or varying the density of the atoms in the beam) a change of the interference patterns is expected.

[1] J. Schmiedmayer, M. S. Chapman, C. R. Ekstrom, T. D. Hammond, S. T. Wehinger, and D. E. Pritchard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1043 (1995)

[2] Shannon Blanchard, Dave Civello, and Robert C. Forrey, Phys. Rev. A 67, 013604 (2003)

[3] Ch. Lisdat, M. Frank, H. Knöckel, and E. Tiemann, Appl. Phys. B 73, 99 (2001)