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Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology

Universal matter-wave interferometry as a sensor in atomic physics and physical chemistry

Yaakov Y. Fein, Stefan Gerlich, Armin Shayeghi, Philipp Geyer, Filip Kiałka, Valentin Köhler, Marcel Mayor, Markus Arndt

Published Mar 4, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We review the concept of matter-wave assisted molecule metrology and present the most recent experiments which exploit the capability of universal matter-wave interferometers to measure forces as small as 10-26 N via shifts of the interference fringes in the presence of well-controlled fields. This technique allows us to compare, in the same instrument, a variety of electronic and magnetic properties for a large range of atoms and molecules. We exemplify this here with precision measurements of the static polarizability of cesium atoms and the fullerenes C60 and C70 as well as dynamically-induced susceptibilities of tailored tripeptides. We also present measurements of magnetic properties such as the diamagnetic susceptibility of ground-state atoms and aromatic and non-aromatic hydrocarbons.

DOI
10.1117/12.2586476

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We review the concept of matter-wave assisted molecule metrology and present the most recent experiments which exploit the capability of universal matter-wave interferometers to measure forces as small as 10-26 N via shifts of the interference fringes in the presence of well-controlled fields. This technique allows us to compare, in the same instrument, a variety of electronic and magnetic properties for a large range of atoms and molecules. We exemplify this here with precision measurements of the static polarizability of cesium atoms and the fullerenes C60 and C70 as well as dynamically-induced susceptibilities of tailored tripeptides. We also present measurements of magnetic properties such as the diamagnetic susceptibility of ground-state atoms and aromatic and non-aromatic hydrocarbons.
We report the first measurement of ground-state diamagnetism of isolated neutral atoms in an atomic beam.We realize this measurement using magnetic deflection of fringes in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer.The observed diamagnetic susceptibilities of -5.8 Æ 0.2 Æ 0.4 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for barium and -7.0 Æ 0.3 Æ 0.7 × 10 -9 m 3 =kg for strontium are in good agreement with the theoretical values and correspond to a measured force on the order of 10 -26 N. The high force sensitivity also allows us to observe the isotope dependence of the interference visibility due to the nuclear permanent magnetic moment, thereby demonstrating a new method for neutral isotope selection.The universality of the technique allows the magnetism of a wide range of atoms and molecules to be studied in the gas phase.
We present a method for measuring the scalar polarizability of molecules by means of near-field matter-wave interferometry. This technique is applicable to a wide range of complex neutral molecules. A key feature of our experiment is the combination of good transmission and high spatial resolution, gained by imprinting a submicrometer spatial modulation onto a wide molecular beam. Our method significantly improves the measurement sensitivity of the polarizability-dependent shifts. We have successfully performed measurements on fullerenes and report the polarizability to be $\ensuremath{\alpha}=88.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}5.1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{3}$ for C60{\mathrm{C}}_{60}C60​ and $\ensuremath{\alpha}=108.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}6.2\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{3}$ for C70{\mathrm{C}}_{70}C70​.
Interference with atomic and molecular matter waves is a rich branch of atomic physics and quantum optics. It started with atom diffraction from crystal surfaces and the separated oscillatory fields technique used in atomic clocks. Atom interferometry is now reaching maturity as a powerful art with many applications in modern science. In this review the basic tools for coherent atom optics are described including diffraction by nanostructures and laser light, three-grating interferometers, and double wells on atom chips. Scientific advances in a broad range of fields that have resulted from the application of atom interferometers are reviewed. These are grouped in three categories: (i) fundamental quantum science, (ii) precision metrology, and (iii) atomic and molecular physics. Although some experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates are included, the focus of the review is on linear matter wave optics, i.e., phenomena where each single atom interferes with itself.
We discuss new de Broglie coherence experiments in a near-field molecule interferometer with a variety of large organic molecules. While de Broglie coherence is to first order only associated with the center-of-mass motion of the diffracted particle, we here investigate the question as to which extent the internal molecular property is relevant for, compatible with or detrimental for maintaining coherence in the translational degree of freedom. External perturbations, such as inhomogeneous external electric fields, may influence the delocalized molecules inside the matter wave interferometer and they allow us to access the molecular polarizabilities, permanent or even fluctuating electric dipole moments. We extract information about the molecular states from the interference phase shifts as well as from the observed dephasing in a Kapitza-Dirac Talbot-Lau-Stark-deflectometer. We discuss the relevance of our experiments with regard to both molecule metrology and the foundations of quantum mechanics, i.e. the preservation of coherence for highly complex particles in external fields.
Although interferometry's earliest and most familiar use is with photons, the discovery of matter-wave (deBroglie-wave) interference for electrons demanded the development of quantum mechanics. Since then, matter-wave interferometry has been performed with neutrons, Cooper electron-pairs, and most recently, with whole atoms and diatomic molecules. This talk describes our recent high-flux atom interferometry experiments using the generalized Talbot-vonLau effect. Our interferometer consists of a sequence of three planar vacuum-slit diffraction gratings, microfabricated from silicon nitride membranes. DeBroglie-wave interference fringes are sensed by measuring the transmission of potassium atoms on a hot- wire as a function of grating relative position. Different spatial Fourier components (up to sixth) in the diffraction pattern are resonant in the interferometer at different atomic velocities (i.e., at different wavelengths). When a laser cooled slow atomic beam is incident, various different diffraction patterns are observed as a function of atomic velocity. In an alternative `Heisenberg Microscope' configuration an incident thermal beam produces a velocity average over different fringe Fourier components. AC modulated weak laser light passing through the interferometer interacts selectively with atoms at a specific velocity. The associated fringe pattern is then ac modulated and revealed by its selective destruction.