Atom optical element synthesized by biomaterials

原子光学研究由物质的波动性质引起的原子束的光学现象，如衍射和干涉。光学中的衍射光栅具有微米数量级的晶格常数。相应地，原子光学需要纳米级的周期结构，因为原子的德布罗意波长非常短。我们的最终目标是开发一种由生物材料合成和组织的具有二维磁性纳米粒子阵列的原子光学光栅。磁性纳米颗粒产生的周期性塞曼势对自旋原子起反射光栅的作用。针对原子散射实验，我们利用激光冷却和俘获技术构建了一个慢相干的铯光束源。我们还开发了一种新的方法来生产二维铁蛋白单晶，每个铁蛋白单晶都含有一个Fe3O4纳米颗粒。

Atom optics deals with optical phenomena of atomic beams, such as diffraction and interference, caused by the wave nature of matter. Diffraction gratings in optics have lattice constants of the order of microns. Correspondingly, those in atom optics require periodic structures of the order of nanometers since de Broglie wavelengths of atoms are extremely short. Our final goal is to develop an atom-optical grating with a 2-dimensional magnetic nanoparticle array synthesized and organized by biomaterials. The periodic Zeeman potential produced by the magnetic nanoparticles works as a reflective grating for atoms with spins. Towards the atom scattering experiment, we constructed a slow and coherent Cs beam source using laser cooling and trapping techniques. We also developed a new method of producing a 2-dimensional single crystal of ferritins, each of which contains a Fe3O4 nanoparticle.