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Publications (33)
The analysis of proteins in the gas phase benefits from detectors that exhibit high efficiency and precise spatial resolution. Although modern secondary electron multipliers already address numerous analytical requirements, additional methods are desired for macromolecules at energies lower than currently used in post-acceleration detection. Previo...
The isolation of biomolecules in a high vacuum enables experiments on fragile species in the absence of a perturbing environment. Since many molecular properties are influenced by local electric fields, here we seek to gain control over the number of charges on a biopolymer by photochemical uncaging. We present the design, modeling, and synthesis o...
The analysis of proteins in the gas phase benefits from detectors that exhibit high efficiency and precise spatial resolution. Although modern secondary electron multipliers already address numerous analytical requirements, new methods are desired for macromolecules at low energy. Previous studies have proven the sensitivity of superconducting dete...
The isolation of biomolecules in high vacuum enables experiments on fragile species in the absence of a perturbing environment. Since many molecular properties are influenced by local electric fields, here we seek to gain control over the number of charges on a biopolymer. Here, we present the design, modelling and synthesis of photoactive molecula...
We discuss recent advances towards matter-wave interference experiments with free beams of metallic and dielectric nanoparticles. They require a brilliant source, an efficient detection scheme and a coherent method to divide the de Broglie waves associated with these clusters: We describe an approach based on a magnetron sputtering source which eje...
We measure the diamagnetic deflection of anthracene and adamantane in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer. From the nanometer-level deflection we extract the magnetic susceptibilities of the molecules which we compare with calculations and previous results. Adamantane yields an isotropic average mass susceptibility of −8.0 ± 1.1 m³ kg⁻¹, con...
The de Broglie wave nature of matter is a paradigmatic example of quantum physics and it has been exploited in precision measurements of forces and fundamental constants. However, matter-wave interferometry has remained an outstanding challenge for natural polypeptides, building blocks of life, which are fragile and difficult to handle. Here, we de...
Matter-wave interferometry offers insights into fundamental physics and provides a precise tool for sensing. Improving the sensitivity of such experiments requires increasing the time particles spend in the interferometer, which can lead to dephasing in the presence of velocity-dependent phase shifts such as those produced by the Earth’s rotation....
Studies of neutral biomolecules in the gas phase allow for the study of molecular properties in the absence of solvent and charge effects, thus complementing spectroscopic and analytical methods in solution or in ion traps. Some properties, such as the static electronic susceptibility, are best accessed in experiments that act on the motion of the...
Laser beam profilometry is an important scientific task with well-established solutions for beams propagating in air. It has, however, remained an open challenge to measure beam profiles of high-power lasers in ultra-high vacuum and in tightly confined spaces. Here we present a novel scheme that uses a single multi-mode fiber to scatter light and g...
We report the first measurement of ground-state diamagnetism of isolated neutral atoms in an atomic beam. We realize this measurement using magnetic deflection of fringes in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer. The observed diamagnetic susceptibilities of −5.8±0.2±0.4×10^{−9} m^{3}/kg for barium and −7.0±0.3±0.7×10^{−9} m^{3}/kg for strontiu...
We present electric deflection results for the fullerenes C60 and C70 obtained with a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer. The second grating of the interferometer is interchangeable between a material grating for fast atom beams and an optical phase grating for polarizable molecules. This allows us to use cesium as a calibration particle and...
Matter-wave interference experiments provide a direct confirmation of the quantum superposition principle, a hallmark of quantum theory, and thereby constrain possible modifications to quantum mechanics¹. By increasing the mass of the interfering particles and the macroscopicity of the superposition², more stringent bounds can be placed on modified...
The de Broglie wave nature of matter is a paradigmatic example of fundamental quantum physics and enables precise measurements of forces, fundamental constants and even material properties. However, even though matter-wave interferometry is nowadays routinely realized in many laboratories, this feat has remained an outstanding challenge for the vas...
Laser beam profilometry is an important scientific task with well-established solutions for beams propagating in air. It has, however, remained an open challenge to measure beam profiles of high-power lasers in ultra-high vacuum and in tightly confined spaces. Here we present a novel scheme that uses a single multi-mode fiber to scatter light and g...
Charge reduction and neutralization of electro-sprayed peptides is realized by selective gas-phase photocleavage of tailored covalent tags. The concept is demonstrated with four model peptides in positive and negative ion...
Designing experiments which delocalize ever more complex and more massive particles requires a quantitative assessment of new interferometer configurations. Here, we introduce a figure of merit which quantifies the difference between a genuine quantum interference pattern and a classical shadow and use it to compare a number of near-field interfero...
Since their first discovery by Louis Dunoyer and Otto Stern, molecular beams have conquered research and technology. However, it has remained an outstanding challenge to isolate and photoionize beams of massive neutral polypeptides. Here we show that femtosecond desorption from a matrix-free sample in high vacuum can produce biomolecular beams at l...
Photocleavable tags (PCTs) have the potential for excellent spatio-temporal control over the release of subunits of complex molecules. Here, we show that electrosprayed oligopeptides, func-tionalized by a tailored ortho-nitroarylether can undergo site-specific photo-activated cleavage under UV irradiation (266 nm) in high vacuum. The comparison of...
Interferometry in the time domain has proven valuable for matter-wave based measurements. This concept has recently been generalized to cold molecular clusters using short-pulse standing light
waves which realized photo-depletion gratings, arranged in a time-domain Talbot – Lau interferometer ( OTIMA ) . Here we extend this idea further to large or...
Recent progress in synthetic chemistry and molecular quantum optics has enabled demonstrations of the quantum mechanical wave–particle duality for complex particles, with masses exceeding 10 kDa. Future experiments with even larger objects will require new optical preparation and manipulation methods that shall profit from the possibility to cleave...
Modern quantum optics encompasses a wide field of phenomena that are either related to the discrete quantum nature of light, the quantum wave nature of matter or light–matter interactions. We here discuss new perspectives for quantum optics with biological nanoparticles. We focus in particular on the prospects of matter-wave interferometry with ami...
We analyze time-domain Talbot–Lau interferometry of organic cluster beams that are exposed to pulsed photodepletion gratings in the vacuum ultraviolet. We focus particularly on the analysis of the complex (phase and absorption) character of the optical elements. The discussion includes the role of wavefront distortions due to mirror imperfections o...
Extending the range of quantum interferometry to a wider class of composite
nanoparticles requires new tools to diffract matter-waves. Recently, pulsed
photoionization light gratings have demonstrated their suitability for high
mass matter-wave physics. Here we extend quantum interference experiments to a
new class of particles by introducing photo...
Matter-wave interferometry with atoms1 and molecules2 has attracted a rapidly growing interest throughout the last two decades both in demonstrations of fundamental quantum phenomena and in quantum-enhanced precision measurements. Such experiments exploit the non-classical superposition of two or more position and momentum states which are coherent...
We discuss an optical matter-wave interferometer for clusters and
complex molecules that uses absorptive ionization gratings in
combination with Talbot-Lau interferometry in the time domain. We show
recent results and present the future perspectives of the experiment. In
this setup, a particle cloud passes alongside a mirror that reflects
three equ...
The wave-particle duality of massive objects is a cornerstone of quantum physics and a key property of many modern tools such as electron microscopy, neutron diffraction or atom interferometry. Here we report on the first experimental demonstration of quantum interference lithography with complex molecules. Molecular matter-wave interference patter...
The wave-particle duality of massive objects is a cornerstone of quantum physics and a key property of many modern tools such as electron microscopy, neutron diffraction or atom interferometry. Here we report on the first experimental demonstration of quantum interference lithography with complex molecules. Molecular matter-wave interference patter...
A new detection method for molecular interferometry reveals the wave particle duality of large molecules in its clearest form and enables us to impress nanolitographic structures on a silicon surface. We discuss the deposition of a quantum interference pattern composed of individual high mass molecules on a silicon substrate.