He-atom diffraction from nanostructure transmission gratings: The role of imperfections

Grisenti, R. E.; Schöllkopf, Wieland; Toennies, J. P.; Manson, J. R.; Savas, T. A.; Smith, Henry I.

doi:10.1103/physreva.61.033608

Cited by 72 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We have analyzed the position-dependent phase shift as a complex transmission function, and find that a coherent phase shift should cause changes in the relative current in each diffraction order as a function of electron energy. This experiment is similar in spirit to the measurement of atom-surface interactions accomplished with similar gratings by Grisenti (19;20), and Perreault (21). Because the current in each diffraction order is expected to change most significantly for the second-and third-order diffraction peaks, the well-resolved patterns with a low background demonstrated in Fig.…”

Section: Further Experiments On Electron Coherencesupporting

confidence: 56%

Diffraction of 0.5keV electrons from free-standing transmission gratings

et al. 2006

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Section: Further Experiments On Electron Coherencesupporting

confidence: 56%

Diffraction of 0.5keV electrons from free-standing transmission gratings

et al. 2006

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“…[16]. The metastable atoms are produced by a discharge in the free-jet expansion zone inside a sapphire nozzle (aperture diameter 160 µm) [17].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The van der Waals potential between metastable atoms and solid surfaces: Novel diffraction experimentsvs.theory

Bruehl¹,

Fouquet²,

Grisenti³

et al. 2002

Europhys. Lett.

109

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Highly polarizable metastable He* (2 3 S) and Ne* (2 3 P) atoms have been diffracted from a 100 nm period silicon nitride transmission grating and the van der Waals coefficients C3 for the interaction of the excited atoms with the silicon nitride surface have been determined from the diffraction intensities out to the 10th order. The results agree with calculations based on the non-retarded Lifshitz formula.PACS numbers: 34.50.Dy, 03.75.BeThe van der Waals (vdW) force between atoms, molecules and solid surfaces is of far reaching importance in many branches of physics, chemistry, and biology [1]. For larger distances, retardation due to the exchange of virtual photons has to be included, while for distances much smaller than the smallest wavelength a non-retarded approach can be used. The theoretical foundations for atom-surface interactions were laid in the pioneering work of Lifshitz [2]. In this case the non-retarded vdW potential has the form −C 3 /l 3 in leading order, where l is the atom-surface separation and C 3 depends on the atom, its electronic state, and on the electronic states of the solid.For groundstate rare gas atoms the C 3 coefficients have recently been measured with good accuracy [3]. Less is known about the van der Waals interactions of electronically excited metastable and Rydberg atoms, in particular the C 3 coefficient is not accurately known. Some time ago, transmission through narrow channels [4] and level shifts in closed or semi-infinite cavities [5,6] have been studied. Recently, inelastic electronic transitions on passage over a metal edge [7] and reflection from surfaces and (reflection) gratings [8] have been measured. Currently there is great interest in these potentials, in particular for metastable helium which is widely used in atom optics [9] as well as in surface physics [10] and for which Bose-Einstein condensation has recently been achieved [11]. The atom-surface van der Waals potentials could soon become relevant in guiding slow metastable rare gas atoms along microstructures [12] or in studying collective effects of Bose-Einstein condensed metastable He* atoms in contact with a surface.From a theoretical point of view atoms in excited states are of particular interest. Their polarizability α is expected to increase as n 7 , with correspondingly much stronger interactions [13]. Therefore it is not obvious whether approximate formulae for the groundstate atom-surface vdW potential are still applicable for excited atoms. Moreover, with the much stronger vdW interaction new effects such as higher multipole coefficients [14] can be expected.In this article, an effective but simple experimental method is used to determine the atom-surface vdW coefficient C 3 for metastable rare gas atoms. It is based on diffraction of an atomic beam from a nanostructured transmission grating with a period of only 100 nm. Modifications in the hierarchy of the intensities of the higher order maxima in the diffraction pattern have been shown to be directly related to the strength C 3 of the atom...

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“…Several experiments can now test these predictions. Atoms transmitted through a cavity ͑Anderson et Sukenik et al, 1993͒, atoms diffracted from a material grating Grisenti, Schöllkopf, Toennies, Manson, et al, 2000;Shimizu, 2001;Bruehl et al, 2002;Cronin and Perreault, 2004;Perreault et al, 2005͒, atoms undergoing quantam reflection ͑Anderson et al, 1986Berkhout et al, 1989;Shimizu, 2001;Shimizu and Fujita, 2002a;Druzhinina and DeKieviet, 2003;Pasquini et al, 2006͒, atoms reflecting from evanescent waves near surfaces ͑Hajnal et al, 1989;Kaiser et al, 1996;Westbrook et al, 1998;Esteve et al, 2004͒, atoms trapped near surfaces ͑Lin et al, 2004McGuirk et al, 2004;Harber et al, 2005͒, andatoms in interferometers ͑Brezger et al, 2002;Kohno et al, 2003;Nairz et al, 2003;Cronin, 2005, 2006͒ have been used to measure atom-surface interaction potentials. For a review of experiments see the CAMS ͑2005͒ proceedings.…”

Section: Casimir-polder (Atom-surface) Potentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optics and Interferometry with Atoms and Molecules

Schmiedmayer

2001

Atomic and Molecular Beams

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Interference with atomic and molecular matter waves is a rich branch of atomic physics and quantum optics. It started with atom diffraction from crystal surfaces and the separated oscillatory fields technique used in atomic clocks. Atom interferometry is now reaching maturity as a powerful art with many applications in modern science. In this review the basic tools for coherent atom optics are described including diffraction by nanostructures and laser light, three-grating interferometers, and double wells on atom chips. Scientific advances in a broad range of fields that have resulted from the application of atom interferometers are reviewed. These are grouped in three categories: ͑i͒ fundamental quantum science, ͑ii͒ precision metrology, and ͑iii͒ atomic and molecular physics. Although some experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates are included, the focus of the review is on linear matter wave optics, i.e., phenomena where each single atom interferes with itself.

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He-atom diffraction from nanostructure transmission gratings: The role of imperfections

Cited by 72 publications

References 15 publications

Diffraction of 0.5keV electrons from free-standing transmission gratings

Diffraction of 0.5keV electrons from free-standing transmission gratings

The van der Waals potential between metastable atoms and solid surfaces: Novel diffraction experimentsvs.theory

Optics and Interferometry with Atoms and Molecules

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