Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 45: Materiewellenoptik

Q 45.6: Talk

Thursday, March 13, 2008, 15:15–15:30, 3G

The relevance of internal states in molecular de Broglie interferometry — •Michael Gring¹, Stefan Gerlich¹, Lucia Hackermüller^1,4, Klaus Hornberger², Hendrik Ulbricht¹, Marcel Müri³, Jens Tüxen³, Marcel Mayor³, and Markus Arndt¹ — ¹Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Wien, Austria — ²Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333 München, Germany — ³University of Basel, Department of Chemistry, St Johannsring 19, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland — ⁴Present address: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz, Germany

We present recent matter wave interferometry results with perfluoroalkyl-functionalized azobenzene molecules. These long molecular chains are interesting for future decoherence and metrology experiments since they can be optically switched between two different conformers. We discuss the question under which conditions one can identify different molecular conformations using the Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interference scheme that was recently developed in our group. We further examine the influence of state-dependent molecular properties such as the polarizability or dipole moment on the interference pattern and the experimental modifications required to reveal these properties also in various other molecular systems.