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An atomically thin matter-wave beamsplitter

Nature Nanotechnology volume 10, pages 845–848 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Matter-wave interferometry has become an essential tool in studies on the foundations of quantum physics1 and for precision measurements2,3,4,5,6. Mechanical gratings have played an important role as coherent beamsplitters for atoms7, molecules and clusters8,9, because the basic diffraction mechanism is the same for all particles. However, polarizable objects may experience van der Waals shifts when they pass the grating walls10,11, and the undesired dephasing may prevent interferometry with massive objects12. Here, we explore how to minimize this perturbation by reducing the thickness of the diffraction mask to its ultimate physical limit, that is, the thickness of a single atom. We have fabricated diffraction masks in single-layer and bilayer graphene as well as in a 1 nm thin carbonaceous biphenyl membrane. We identify conditions to transform an array of single-layer graphene nanoribbons into a grating of carbon nanoscrolls. We show that all these ultrathin nanomasks can be used for high-contrast quantum diffraction of massive molecules. They can be seen as a nanomechanical answer to the question debated by Bohr and Einstein13 of whether a softly suspended double slit would destroy quantum interference. In agreement with Bohr's reasoning we show that quantum coherence prevails, even in the limit of atomically thin gratings.

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Figure 1: Exploring the ultimate limit of nanomechanical diffraction gratings.
Figure 2: Influence of membrane thickness and material composition on the van der Waals interaction in molecule diffraction.
Figure 3: A nanomechanical implementation of the Bohr–Einstein debate.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support by the European Commission (304886), the European Research Council (320694) and the Austrian Science Funds (DK CoQuS W1210-3). C.B. acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Feodor Lynen fellowship. J.K. acknowledges the Austrian Science Fund FWF for funding through project M 1481-N20. J.M. and C.M. acknowledge support from the Austrian Science Funds FWF project P 25721-N20. A.W. and A.T. acknowledge support from the DFG (SPP ‘Graphene’ TU149/2-2, Heisenberg Program TU149/3-1). T.J. acknowledges support by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The authors thank the group of Prof. Schattschneider, USTEM TU Vienna for assistance in recording the image in Fig. 1h. The authors thank S. Scheel and J. Fiedler (University of Rostock) as well as K. Hornberger and B. Stickler (University of Duisburg) for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, VCQ, QuNaBioS, Boltzmanngasse 5, Vienna, A-1090, Austria

    Christian Brand, Michele Sclafani, Christian Knobloch, Thomas Juffmann & Markus Arndt

  2. ICFO – Institut de Ciènces Fotòniques, Castelldefels (Barcelona), 08860, Spain

    Michele Sclafani

  3. The Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology at Tel Aviv University,

    Yigal Lilach & Ori Cheshnovsky

  4. Physics Department, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, 94305-4060, California, USA

    Thomas Juffmann

  5. Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, PNM, Boltzmanngasse 5, Vienna, A-1090, Austria

    Jani Kotakoski, Clemens Mangler & Jannik Meyer

  6. Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Lessingstrasse 10, Jena, D-07743, Germany

    Andreas Winter & Andrey Turchanin

  7. Tel Aviv University, School of Chemistry, The Raymond and Beverly Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Ori Cheshnovsky

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Contributions

M.A., O.C., T.J. and C.B. came up with the idea for the research. Nanofabrication was carried out by M.S., O.C. and Y.L. Grating characterization was performed by O.C., M.S., J.M., J.K., C.M., C.B. and Y.L. The biphenyl membrane was produced by A.W. and A.T. Diffraction experiments were carried out by M.S., C.K., C.B. and T.J. Simulations were performed by T.J., M.S., C.K., C.B. and M.A. The manuscript was written by M.A., C.B. and M.S., in collaboration with all co-authors.

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Correspondence to Markus Arndt.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Brand, C., Sclafani, M., Knobloch, C. et al. An atomically thin matter-wave beamsplitter. Nature Nanotech 10, 845–848 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.179

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