Bonn 2025 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 33: Matter Wave Interferometry I
Q 33.5: Talk
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 12:00–12:15, HS I
Atom diffraction through free-standing graphene — •Carina Kanitz1, Jakob Bühler1, Vladimir Zobac2, Joseph James Robinson1, Toma Susi2, Maxime Debiossac1, and Christian Brand1 — 1German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Quantum Technologies, Wilhelm-Runge-Strasse 10, 89081 Ulm, Germany — 2University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Diffraction of particles through materials allows studying their properties in great detail as shown, for instance, in transmission electron microscopy. So far, coherent transmission through materials has only been demonstrated for electrons and neutrons, but not for atoms. This leads to the fundamental question whether this is possible [1]. Here, we report the first results on atomic diffraction through crystalline materials [2]. To achieve this feat, we used H and He atoms with an energy between 400 and 1600 eV normal to the surface. We observe highly-detailed patterns featuring diffraction up to the eighth diffraction order. Our findings are interesting both from a fundamental and applied point of view. They show that atoms can pass through a pristine material and retain their coherence. In this future, this might pave the path for new approaches to study 2D materials in transmission.
[1] Brand et al., New J. Phys. 21, 033004 (2019)
[2] Kanitz et al., in preparation
Keywords: Atomic matter wave; Transmission diffraction; 2D material