Paper: Science Advances

11.08.2017

We have a new paper on "In search of multipath interference using large molecules" on Science Advances!

The superposition principle is fundamental to the quantum description of both light and matter. Recently, a number of experiments have sought to directly test this principle using coherent light, single photons, and nuclear spin states. We extend these experiments to massive particles for the first time. We compare the interference patterns arising from a beam of large dye molecules diffracting at single, double, and triple slit material masks to place limits on any high-order, or multipath, contributions. We observe an upper bound of less than one particle in a hundred deviating from the expectations of quantum mechanics over a broad range of transverse momenta and de Broglie wavelength.

Read the full paper here.

 

  • J. P. Cotter, C. Brand, C. Knobloch, Y. Lilach, O. Cheshnovsky, M. Arndt
    In search of multipath interference using large molecules    ,
    Science Advances 3/8    , e1602478 (2017),
    DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602478.
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Fig. 1 Experimental setup: (A) Focused laser source produces a thermal beam of PcH2 molecules, which diffracts at a vertical array of single, double, and triple slits, which are aligned to the local gravitation field g, before landing on a thin quartz detection screen. The deposited molecules are observed using high-resolution fluorescence imaging. (B) Schematic of the triple slit. The openings (black) have a transverse width a = 80 nm, and their centers are separated by a distance d = 100 nm.