Molecular Rotations in Matter-Wave Interferometry

Abstract

We extend the theory of matter-wave interferometry of point-like particles to non-spherical objects by taking the orientational degrees of freedom into account. In particular, we derive the grating transformation operator, that maps the impinging state onto the outgoing state, for a general, orientation-dependent interaction potential between the grating and the molecule. The grating operator is then worked out for the diffraction of symmetric top molecules from standing light waves, and the resulting interference pattern is calculated in the near-field. This allows us to identify a signature of the orientational degrees of freedom in near-field matter-wave experiments.

References in corpus (11)

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• Testing the limits of quantum mechanical superpositions
• Macroscopicity of Mechanical Quantum Superposition States
• A Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer for highly polarizable molecules
• Theory of decoherence in a matter wave Talbot-Lau interferometer
• Theory and experimental verification of Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometry
• Theory of near-field matter wave interference beyond the eikonal approximation
• Concept of an ionizing time-domain matter-wave interferometer
• Influence of conformational molecular dynamics on matter wave interferometry
• Optical polarizabilities of large molecules measured in near-field interferometry
• Probing the axis alignment of an ultracold spin-polarized ${\text{Rb}}_2$ molecule

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Quantum Decoherence
• Full Rotational Control of Levitated Silicon Nanorods
• Ro-Translational Cavity Cooling of Dielectric Rods and Disks
• Quantum experiments with microscale particles
• Spatio-Orientational Decoherence of Nanoparticles
• Quantum Angular Momentum Diffusion of Rigid Bodies
• Enantiomer superpositions from matter-wave interference of chiral molecules
• Decoherence-Free Rotational Degrees of Freedom for Quantum Applications
• Collisional decoherence of polar molecules
• Detection of anisotropic particles in levitated optomechanics
• Conformer-selection by matter-wave interference
• Decoherence by Internal Degrees of Freedom
• Multi-photon absorption in optical gratings for matter waves
• Decoherence: From Interpretation to Experiment
• Experimental decoherence in molecule interferometry
• Delta-Kick Collimation of Heteronuclear Feshbach Molecules