Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 54: Teilchenoptik
Q 54.2: Talk
Thursday, March 22, 2007, 12:15–12:30, 5K
A Kapitza-Dirac interferometer for massive molecules — •Lucia Hackermueller1, Sarayut Deachapunya2, Stefan Gerlich2, Klaus Hornberger3, Alexander Stibor4, Hendrik Ulbricht2, and Markus Arndt2 — 1Institut f. Physik, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55090 Mainz — 2Fakultät für Physik, Universität Wien, Boltzmanng. 5, A-1090 Wien — 3Arnold-Sommerfeld-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333 München — 4Physikalisches Institut, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14 , 72076 Tübingen
The development of new interferometers and molecular sources is essential for future tests of de Broglie physics with molecules of increasing mass and complexity. A Talbot-Lau interferometer has favourable scaling properties and allows high count rates because it accepts uncollimated beams. Using a standing light wave as diffracting object further increases the particle flux and avoids influences by van-der-Waals interactions. We present the successful realization of a new interferometer - the Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer - that paves the way for matter wave physics with particles in the 10k Dalton range. Especially promising candidates for interferomery are perfluorinated molecules. These species with masses between 3000 - 7000 amu can still be evaporated with a slow thermal velocity of 30-50 m/s. Due to their high mass they can even be additionally retarded in the gravitational field. For slow particles with a mass of 7000 amu a distance of 1m is already sufficient to stop them.