dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaInfluence of molecular temperature on the coherence of fullerenes in a near-field interferometer
| Authors | Klaus Hornberger, Lucia Hackermueller, Markus Arndt |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0412003 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0412003 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.71.023601 |
| Journal | Phys. Rev. A 71, 023601 (2005) |
Abstract
We study C70 fullerene matter waves in a Talbot-Lau interferometer as a function of their temperature. While the ideal fringe visibility is observed at moderate molecular temperatures, we find a gradual degradation of the interference contrast if the molecules are heated before entering the interferometer. A method is developed to assess the distribution of the micro-canonical temperatures of the molecules in free flight. This way the heating-dependent reduction of interference contrast can be compared with the predictions of quantum theory. We find that the observed loss of coherence agrees quantitatively with the expected decoherence rate due to the thermal radiation emitted by the hot molecules.
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"abstract": "We study C70 fullerene matter waves in a Talbot-Lau interferometer as a\nfunction of their temperature. While the ideal fringe visibility is observed at\nmoderate molecular temperatures, we find a gradual degradation of the\ninterference contrast if the molecules are heated before entering the\ninterferometer. A method is developed to assess the distribution of the\nmicro-canonical temperatures of the molecules in free flight. This way the\nheating-dependent reduction of interference contrast can be compared with the\npredictions of quantum theory. We find that the observed loss of coherence\nagrees quantitatively with the expected decoherence rate due to the thermal\nradiation emitted by the hot molecules.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0412003",
"authors": [
"Klaus Hornberger",
"Lucia Hackermueller",
"Markus Arndt"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.71.023601",
"journal_ref": "Phys. Rev. A 71, 023601 (2005)",
"title": "Influence of molecular temperature on the coherence of fullerenes in a near-field interferometer",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0412003"
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