Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Physics Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (534) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Wave-particle duality of C60 molecules
Authors:
Arndt, Markus; Nairz, Olaf; Vos-Andreae, Julian; Keller, Claudia; van der Zouw, Gerbrand; Zeilinger, Anton
Publication:
Nature, Volume 401, Issue 6754, pp. 680-682 (1999). (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
10/1999
Origin:
NATURE
DOI:
10.1038/44348
Bibliographic Code:
1999Natur.401..680A

Abstract

Quantum superposition lies at the heart of quantum mechanics and gives rise to many of its paradoxes. Superposition of de Broglie matter waves has been observed for massive particles such as electrons, atoms and dimers, small van der Waals clusters, and neutrons. But matter wave interferometry with larger objects has remained experimentally challenging, despite the development of powerful atom interferometric techniques for experiments in fundamental quantum mechanics, metrology and lithography. Here we report the observation of de Broglie wave interference of C60 molecules by diffraction at a material absorption grating. This molecule is the most massive and complex object in which wave behaviour has been observed. Of particular interest is the fact that C60 is almost a classical body, because of its many excited internal degrees of freedom and their possible couplings to the environment. Such couplings are essential for the appearance of decoherence, suggesting that interference experiments with large molecules should facilitate detailed studies of this process.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
  New!

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints