Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 22: Matter Wave Optics II
Q 22.1: Talk
Monday, March 5, 2018, 16:15–16:30, K 1.013
Testing Multi-path interference using molecule diffraction — •Christian Brand1, Joseph Cotter1, Christian Knobloch1, Yigal Lilach2, Ori Cheshnovsky2, and Markus Arndt1 — 1Faculty of Physics, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria — 2Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
In quantum mechanics, the probability to measure a particle at a certain position is described by the square modulus of its wavefunction. This cornerstone of quantum-physics, known as Born’s rule, underlies all quantum measurements, but is not immediately relevant for our classical world. In the search for a possible transition from quantum to classical phenomena, it has been proposed that the quantum mechanics may have non-linear extensions, giving rise to higher-order terms in multi-path interference [1]. This idea has been tested with mass-less photons with high accuracy [2]. Here, we present an explicit test of higher-order interference for the first time using massive organic molecules [3]. A thermal beam of phthalocyanine molecules was diffracted at a mask containing a combination of single-, double-, and triple-slits nanomachined into a 20 nm thin carbon membrane. From the analysis of the diffraction pattern in the matter-wave far-field, we deduce an upper bound for the possible contribution of higher-order interference for a wide region of molecular velocities of less than 1%.
[1] Sorkin, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 9, 3119 (1994) [2] Urbasi, Science 329, 418 (2010) [3] Cotter et al. Sci. Adv. 3, 1607478 (2017)