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arXiv · 1407.0919

Photofragmentation beam splitters for matter-wave interferometry

Nadine Dörre·Jonas Rodewald·Philipp Geyer·Bernd von Issendorff·Philipp Haslinger·Markus Arndt
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Abstract

Extending the range of quantum interferometry to a wider class of composite nanoparticles requires new tools to diffract matter waves. Recently, pulsed photoionization light gratings have demonstrated their suitability for high mass matter-wave physics. Here we extend quantum interference experiments to a new class of particles by introducing photofragmentation beam splitters into time-domain matter-wave interferometry. Photofragmentation gratings can act on objects as different as van der Waals clusters and biomolecules which are thermally unstable and often resilient to single-photon ionization. We present data that demonstrate this coherent beam splitting mechanism with clusters of hexafluorobenzene and we show single-photon depletion gratings based both on fragmentation and ionization for clusters of vanillin.

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Nadine Dörre, Jonas Rodewald, Philipp Geyer, Bernd von Issendorff, Philipp Haslinger, Markus Arndt. 2014-12-02. Photofragmentation beam splitters for matter-wave interferometry. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.113.233001

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