MIME - Molecule Interferometry and Metrology

分子干涉与计量学合作研究项目(MIME)将在实验物质波干涉计量学中建立新的界限，并将探索量子干涉在分子计量学中的新应用。该项目旨在利用定制的分子，对质量范围在10000 Amu及以上的分子进行德布罗意干涉实验，即在质量和复杂性上超过所有现有的物质波实验约一个数量级。该团队旨在利用最近建立的干涉装置和新的探测方案，探索Talbot-Lau技术作为确定分子性质的精确工具，如电极化率和电磁化率。MIME由来自奥地利、奥地利和澳大利亚的四个专家团队组成德国和瑞士具有非常强的互补性和跨学科能力：首次研究表明，由巴塞尔的合作伙伴合成的全氟烷基功能化化合物将高分子质量与高蒸汽压和低热速度结合在一起-这是物质波干涉测量的理想特性。目前，最适合用于高质量区域的量子干涉测量的设备是Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau干涉仪，例如最近在维也纳成功实施的干涉仪。在目前的形式下，它可以接受高达10,000安培的定制分子的热束。量子干涉计量学将受益于增强的检测方案。物质干涉图的高分辨率成像现在可以通过达姆施塔特/卡尔斯鲁厄的纳米技术小组获得。他们将与巴塞尔的合作伙伴联手开发高度结合和固定的表面，适合作为分子干涉图的记录板。达姆施塔特/卡尔斯鲁厄的现代高分辨率成像方法可用于分析在维也纳拍摄的记录。拟议的实验还将首次使新的退相干现象成为可能：将与我们在慕尼黑的理论合作伙伴合作，探索和定量分析不同分子构象或分子手性对物质波相干性的影响。

The collaborative research project on Molecule Interferometry and MEtrology (MIME) will establish new bounds in experimental matter-wave interferometry and it will explore new applications of quantum interference to molecule metrology.Using tailor-made molecules, the project aims at de Broglie interference experiments with molecules in the mass range up to and beyond 10,000 amu, i.e. surpassing all existing matter wave experiments by about an order of magnitude in mass and complexity.Using a recently established interference setup and new detection schemes the team aims at exploring the Talbot-Lau technique as a precise tool for determining molecular properties, such as electric polarizabilities as well as electrical or magnetic susceptibilities.MIME unites four expert teams from Austria, Germany and Switzerland with very complementary and interdisciplinary competences:First studies have shown already that perfluoroalkyl-functionalized compounds, synthesized by the partners in Basel, combine high molecular mass with a high vapor pressure and a low thermal velocity - ideal properties for matter wave interferometry. The best-adapted device for quantum interferometry in the high-mass regime is at present a Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer, such as recently successfully implemented in Vienna. In its present form it can accept thermal beams of tailor-made molecules up to 10,000 amu. Quantum interferometry will profit from enhanced detection schemes. High-resolution imaging of matter interferograms now becomes accessible through the nanotechnology group in Darmstadt/Karlsruhe. They will join forces with the partners in Basel to develop highly binding and immobilizing surfaces that are suitable as recording plates for molecular interferograms. Modern high-resolution imaging methods are then available in Darmstadt/Karlsruhe to analyze the recordings taken in Vienna.The proposed experiments will also render new decoherence phenomena accessible for the first time: The influence of different molecular conformations or molecular chiralities on matter wave coherence will be explored and quantitatively analyzed in collaboration with our theory partners in Munich.