New Prospects for de Broglie Interferometry |
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Authors: | Thomas Juffmann Stefan Nimmrichter Markus Arndt Herbert Gleiter Klaus Hornberger |
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Institution: | (1) Princeton University, Princeton, NJ |
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Abstract: | We consider various effects that are encountered in matter wave interference experiments with massive nanoparticles. The text-book
example of far-field interference at a grating is compared with diffraction into the dark field behind an opaque aperture, commonly designated as Poisson’s spot or the spot of Arago. Our estimates indicate that both phenomena may still be observed in a mass range exceeding present-day experiments by at
least two orders of magnitude. They both require, however, the development of sufficiently cold, intense and coherent cluster
beams. While the observation of Poisson’s spot offers the advantage of non-dispersiveness and a simple distinction between
classical and quantum fringes in the absence of particle wall interactions, van der Waals forces may severely limit the distinguishability
between genuine quantum wave diffraction and classically explicable spots already for moderately polarizable objects and diffraction
elements as thin as 100 nm. |
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