Matter Waves in the Talbot-Lau Interferometry

Authors

  • Valeriy I. Sbitnev St. Petersburg B. P. Konstantinov Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC Kurchatov Institute, Gatchina, Leningrad district, 188300, Russia. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47363/JPSOS/2021(3)150

Keywords:

Interferometry, Matter Waves

Abstract

Particle paths, emitted from distributed sources and passing out through slits of two gratings, G0 and G1, up to detectors, have been computed in detail by the path integral method. The particles under consideration are fullerene molecules with a De Broglie wavelength equal to 5 pm. The slits are Gaussian functions that simulate fuzzy edges of the slits. Waves of the matter computed by this method show perfect interference patterns both between the gratings and behind the second grating. Coherent and non-coherent distributed particle sources reproducing the interference patterns are discussed in detail. Paraxial approximation results from removing the distributed sources onto innity. This approximation gives a wave function reproducing an exact copy of the Talbot carpet. PACS numbers: 03.75.-b, 03.75.Dg, 42.25.Hz

Author Biography

  • Valeriy I. Sbitnev, St. Petersburg B. P. Konstantinov Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC Kurchatov Institute, Gatchina, Leningrad district, 188300, Russia. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

    Valeriy I. Sbitnev, St. Petersburg B. P. Konstantinov Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC Kurchatov Institute, Gatchina, Leningrad district, 188300, Russia. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Downloads

Published

2025-11-25

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 3 (2021): Volume 3 Issue 3

Section

Articles