Published in PCCP

23.10.2024

Molecules diffracted at deep-ultraviolet standing-light waves.

Ksenija Simonović, Richard Ferstl, Alfredo Di Silvestro, Marcel Mayor, Lukas Martinetz, Klaus Hornberger, Benjamin A. Stickler, Christian Brand, and Markus Arndt
Diffracting molecular matter-waves at deep-ultraviolet standing-light waves
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2024), DOI: 10.1039/D4CP03059A

Abstract:

Matter-wave interferometry with molecules is intriguing both because it demonstrates a fundamental quantum phenomenon and because it opens avenues to quantum-enhanced measurements in physical chemistry. One great challenge in such experiments is to establish matter-wave beam splitting mechanisms that are efficient and applicable to a wide range of particles. In the past, continuous standing light waves in the visible spectral range were used predominantly as phase gratings, while pulsed vacuum ultraviolet light found applications in photo-ionisation gratings. Here, we explore the regime of continuous, intense deep-ultraviolet (>1 MW/cm2, 266 nm) light masks, where a rich variety of photo-physical and photo-chemical phenomena and relaxation pathways must be considered. The improved understanding of the mechanisms in this interaction opens new potential pathways to protein interferometry and to matter-wave enhanced sensing of molecular properties.

 

 

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Fig. 2: Setup of the experiment: A thermal molecular beam is collimated to a divergence of 5 μrad to approximate a plane-parallel matter wave. The molecules are diffracted at a deep ultraviolet grating which is generated as a standing light wave of a high-power continuous frequency doubled laser. The diffracted molecules generate a mass density pattern on the window of that vacuum chamber, which is imaged by fluorescence microscopy. During diffraction, the matter-wave beam splitter imparts a transverse momentum of ∆p = ±nhbarkL, with the integer n depending on the details of the process.