2011/09/30 by Klaus Hornberger, Stefan Gerlich, Philipp Haslinger +2 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph #physics.atm-clus
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.84.157
published as Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 157 (2012) · 19 pages, 13 figures; v2: corresponds to published version
arxiv created 2012/03/02 · arxiv updated 2014/08/07
We review recent progress and future prospects of matter wave interferometry with complex organic molecules and inorganic clusters. Three variants of a near-field interference effect, based on diffraction by material nanostructures, at optical phase gratings, and at ionizing laser fields are considered. We discuss the theoretical concepts underlying these experiments and the experimental challenges. This includes optimizing interferometer designs as well as understanding the role of decoherence. The high sensitivity of matter wave interference experiments to external perturbations is demonstrated to be useful for accurately measuring internal properties of delocalized nanoparticles. We conclude by investigating the prospects for probing the quantum superposition principle in the limit of high particle mass and complexity.