Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 27: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics II

Q 27.32: Poster

Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 16:30–19:00, Empore Lichthof

Time-domain interferometry with nanoparticles — •Nadine Dörre, Jonas Rodewald, Philipp Geyer, Philipp Haslinger, and Markus Arndt — Universität Wien, VCQ, Wien, Austria

We present an optical matter-wave interferometer for clusters and complex molecules that uses absorptive light gratings in combination with Talbot-Lau interferometry in the time domain. In this setup, neutral particles pass alongside a mirror that reflects three equally timed UV lasers pulses. The resulting standing light waves act as absorptive structures by removing particles from the antinodes upon absorption of a single photon. In contrast to material absorptive masks, such gratings allow to be operated in a pulsed mode, which makes the longitudinal motion of the particles negligible and thus brings gain in visibility and measurement precision.

We discuss two depletion mechanisms in the laser gratings. Ionization occurs for particles with ionization energies lower than the photon energy and fragmentation dominates when two photons would be necessary for ionization of van der Waals clusters. We show interference with clusters of various organic molecules with masses up to 3000 u that also serve as a motivation to explore cluster properties with time domain metrology. The experiment is widely applicable in the sense that it allows working with a large class of nanoparticles. It may act on atoms, molecules but also giant clusters. We may, thus, set new experimental bounds on collapse models that suggest a fundamental breakdown of quantum theory once a certain complexity scale is reached.