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Physics World

Buckyball interference

Published Nov 1, 1999• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The interference pattern formed when a beam of electrons passes through a double slit is clear evidence that electrons can behave as both waves and particles. This wave-particle duality lies at the heart of quantum mechanics, but physicists remain intrigued by the boundary between the quantum and classical worlds. Neutrons, atoms and small molecules have all shown quantum-interference effects. Now Markus Arndt and co-workers at the University of Vienna have observed the wave-like behaviour of carbon-60 molecules. The "bucky-ball" molecules are at least an order of magnitude more massive than any other object where wave properties have been observed (Nature 1999 401 680).

DOI
10.1088/2058-7058/12/11/4

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The interference pattern formed when a beam of electrons passes through a double slit is clear evidence that electrons can behave as both waves and particles. This wave-particle duality lies at the heart of quantum mechanics, but physicists remain intrigued by the boundary between the quantum and classical worlds. Neutrons, atoms and small molecules have all shown quantum-interference effects. Now Markus Arndt and co-workers at the University of Vienna have observed the wave-like behaviour of carbon-60 molecules. The "bucky-ball" molecules are at least an order of magnitude more massive than any other object where wave properties have been observed (Nature 1999 401 680).
Wave–particle duality is frequently the first topic students encounter in elementary quantum physics. Although this phenomenon has been demonstrated with photons, electrons, neutrons, and atoms, the dual quantum character of the famous double-slit experiment can be best explained with the largest and most classical objects, which are currently the fullerene molecules. The soccer-ball-shaped carbon cages C60 are large, massive, and appealing objects for which it is clear that they must behave like particles under ordinary circumstances. We present the results of a multislit diffraction experiment with such objects to demonstrate their wave nature. The experiment serves as the basis for a discussion of several quantum concepts such as coherence, randomness, complementarity, and wave–particle duality. In particular, the effect of longitudinal (spectral) coherence can be demonstrated by a direct comparison of interferograms obtained with a thermal beam and a velocity selected beam in close analogy to the usual two-slit experiments using light.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, physicists have known that light must be considered as both a wave and a particle. Some properties of light – such as diffraction – can only be explained by treating it as waves, while others – like the photoelectric effect – can only be explained by treating it as particles. In the 1920s Louis de Broglie suggested that this wave–particle duality, which lies at the heart of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, could be extended to massive particles. In other words, electrons, atoms and molecules should diffract and interfere just like light does.
Complementarity lies at the heart of conceptual foundation of orthodox quantum mechanics. The wave-particle duality makes it impossible to tell which slit each particle passes through and still observe an interference pattern in a Young's double-slit experiment. In this paper, this duality is appraised under the standard formulation of quantum mechanics for atom interferometers. It is found that the internal freedoms like electronic states of an atom can be used to detect the which-path information of each atom while uphold the interference pattern of atoms when the center-of-mass motion of atoms is detected.
There has always been a desire to understand quantum mechanics in terms of classical physics. Quantum analogues of Young's double-slit experiment from classical optics have been fundamental to our understanding of the wave nature of particles and double-slit interference patterns have been observed with beams of electrons and atoms. Now, Michael Noel and Carlos Stroud of the University of Rochester in the US have observed double- slit-like interference phenomena in electron wave packets within a single atom (M W Noel and C S Stroud 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 1252).
The double slit interference experiment has been famously described by Richard Feynman as containing the "only mystery of quantum mechanics". The history of quantum mechanics is intimately linked with the discovery of the dual nature of matter and radiation. While the double slit experiment for light is easily undertsood in terms of its wave nature, the very same experiment for particles like the electron is somewhat more difficult to comprehend. By the 1920s it was firmly established that electrons have a wave nature. However, for a very long time, most discussions pertaining to interference experiments for particles were merely gedanken experiments. It took almost six decades after the establishment of its wave nature to carry out a 'double slit interference' experiment for electrons. This set the stage for interference experiments with larger particles. In the last decade there has been spectacular progress in matter-wave interefernce experiments. Today, molecules with over a hundred atoms can be made to interfere. In the following we discuss some of these exciting developments which probe new regimes of Nature, bringing us closer to the heart of quantum mechanics and its hidden mysteries.