Matter waves optical effects

In principle, the diffraction patterns can be quantitatively understood within the Fraunhofer approximation of Kirchhoff s diffraction theory as described in any optics textbook (e.g., [Hecht 1994]). However, Fraunhofer s optical diffraction theory misses an important point of our experiments with matter waves and material gratings the attractive interaction between the molecule and the wall results in an additional phase of the molecular wavefunction [Grisenti 1999], Although the details of the calculations are somewhat involved2, the qualitative effect of this attractive force on far-field diffraction can be understood as a narrowing of the real slit width to an effective slit width [Briihl 2002], For our fullerene molecules the reduction can be as big as 20 nm for the unselected molecular beam and almost 30 nm for the slower, velocity selected beam. The stronger effect on slower molecules is due to the longer and therefore more influential interaction between the molecules and the wall. 

F. Riehle, Th. Kisteers, A. White, J. Helmecke, Ch.J. Borde Optical Ramsey spectroscopy in a rotating frame Sagnac effect in a matter-wave interferometer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 177 (1991)... 

The climate effects of atmospheric aerosol particles are a matter of continuous interest in the research community. The aerosol-climate effects are divided into two groups The direct effect represents the ability of the particle population to absorb and scatter short-wave radiation - directly affecting the radiation balance. These direct effects depend primarily on the aerosol optical properties and particle number size distribution, as the particle size significantly affects the scattering efficiency of... 

The next natural objects are neutral atoms or molecules. The wave properties of atoms and molecules, and various types of their interaction with matter and electromagnetic fields (from static to optical) make it possible to implement atom and molecular optics. It is precisely the great variety of methods for exerting an effect on an atom (or molecule) possessing a static electrical or magnetic moment, a quadrupole... 

The experimental realization of Bose-Einstein condensation has shown that this phenomenon makes it possible to construct an atom laser by releasing a condensate from an atom trap (Mewes et al. 1997). An atom laser is a source of coherent collimated atomic de Broglie waves, which was nicely demonstrated in the observation of interference between two Bose-Einstein condensates (Andrews et al. 1997). Like a conventional optical laser emitting coherent light waves, an atom laser emits coherent waves of atomic matter. This means that atom lasers may have an impact on coherent atom optics, which may lead to new achievements in atom interferometry, holography, and microscopy. The development of coherent atom optics may in turn lead to new fundamental observations, including nonlinear and nonclassical effects in coherent-matter media. 

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