Hannover 2020 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 55: Matter Wave Optics
Q 55.4: Talk
Friday, March 13, 2020, 11:45–12:00, a310
Diffraction of atomic matter-waves through crystalline materials — •Christian Brand1, Maxime Debiossac1, Toma Susi1, Francois Aguillon2, Jani Kotakoski1, Philippe Roncin2, and Markus Arndt1 — 1Universität Wien, Fakultät für Physik, A-1090 Wien, Austria — 2Université Paris-Saclay, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, F-91405 Orsay, France
In modern atom interferometers clouds of ultra-cold atoms are diffracted at laser gratings, allowing for high precision force sensing [1]. Here we discuss the complementary approach of diffracting atomic hydrogen with a velocity of up to 120.000 m/s through crystalline membranes [2]. Our analysis describes the interaction of the atomic matter-wave with the grating using TDDFT/MD simulations. Even though the simulations predict sizable coupling of the atom to the electronic system of graphene, we find a surprisingly high chance of coherent diffraction through roughly a sixth of the hexagon’s area. As the grating period is 400 times smaller than in state-of-the-art nano-machined gratings [3], we predict unusual wide diffraction angles in the 10 mrad regime.
We envision this technique to give new insights into velocity-dependent effects, such as quantum friction, and for gravitational wave detection.
[1] G. M. Tino and M. A. Kasevich, Atom Interferometry (2014)
[2] C. Brand et al., New J. Phys. 21 033004 (2019)
[3] C. Brand et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 10 845 (2015)