Signature of Short-Range van der Waals Forces Observed in Poisson Spot Diffraction with Indium Atoms
| Autor: | Horst Hahn, Nicolas Gack, Joshua Leo Hemmerich, Thomas Reisinger, Robert Bennett, Christian Reitz, Johannes Fiedler, Max Könne, Herbert Gleiter, Stefan Yoshi Buhmann |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Diffraction
Range (particle radiation) Materials science General Physics and Astronomy chemistry.chemical_element 01 natural sciences London dispersion force Molecular physics symbols.namesake chemistry 0103 physical sciences Physics::Atomic and Molecular Clusters symbols Particle Physics::Atomic Physics Matter wave Arago spot van der Waals force 010306 general physics Indium |
| Zdroj: | Physical review letters. 125(5) |
| ISSN: | 1079-7114 |
| Popis: | The phase of de Broglie matter waves is a sensitive probe for small forces. In particular, the attractive van der Waals force experienced by polarizable atoms in the close vicinity of neutral surfaces is of importance in nanoscale systems. It results in a phase shift that can be observed in matter-wave diffraction experiments. Here, we observe Poisson spot diffraction of indium atoms at submillimeter distances behind spherical submicron silicon dioxide particles to probe the dispersion forces between atoms and the particle surfaces. We compare the measured relative intensity of Poisson's spot to theoretical results derived from first principles in an earlier communication and find a clear signature of the atom-surface interaction. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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