Cotter J P, Eibenberger S, Mairhofer L, Cheng X, Asenbaum P, Arndt M, Walter K, Nimmrichter S, Hornberger K
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VCQ &QuNaBioS, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Physics, Lotharstraße 1-21, 47048 Duisburg, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2015 Jun 11;6:7336. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8336.
Matter-wave interferometry can be used to probe the foundations of physics and to enable precise measurements of particle properties and fundamental constants. It relies on beam splitters that coherently divide the wave function. In atom interferometers, such elements are often realised using lasers by exploiting the dipole interaction or through photon absorption. It is intriguing to extend these ideas to complex molecules where the energy of an absorbed photon can rapidly be redistributed across many internal degrees of freedom. Here, we provide evidence that center-of-mass coherence can be maintained even when the internal energy and entropy of the interfering particle are substantially increased by absorption of photons from a standing light wave. Each photon correlates the molecular center-of-mass wave function with its internal temperature and splits it into a superposition with opposite momenta in addition to the beam-splitting action of the optical dipole potential.
物质波干涉测量法可用于探究物理学基础，并实现对粒子性质和基本常数的精确测量。它依赖于能相干地分割波函数的分束器。在原子干涉仪中，此类元件通常利用激光，通过偶极相互作用或光子吸收来实现。将这些想法扩展到复杂分子是很有趣的，因为被吸收光子的能量可以迅速在许多内部自由度之间重新分配。在这里，我们提供了证据表明，即使干涉粒子的内能和熵因从驻波光吸收光子而大幅增加，质心相干性仍可维持。每个光子将分子质心波函数与其内部温度相关联，并除了光学偶极势的分束作用外，还将其分裂成具有相反动量的叠加态。
