Single spontaneous photon as a coherent beamsplitter for an atomic matter-wave

Journal Article · Thu Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 2014 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4903084· OSTI ID:22390708

Tomkovič, Jiří; Welte, Joachim; Oberthaler, Markus K. ^[1]; Schreiber, Michael ^[2]; Kiffner, Martin ^[3]; Schmiedmayer, Jörg ^[4]

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1. Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany)
2. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München (Germany)
3. Physik Department I, Technische Universität München, Garching (Germany)
4. Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna (Austria)

In free space the spontaneous emission of a single photon destroys motional coherence. Close to a mirror surface the reflection erases the which-path information and the single emitted photon can be regarded as a coherent beam splitter for an atomic matter-wavewhich can be verified by atom interferometry. Our experiment is a realization of the recoiling slit Gedanken experiment by Einstein.

• OSTI ID: 22390708
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1633, Issue 1; Conference: 11. International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computation, Vienna (Austria), 30 Jul - 3 Aug 2012; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
INTERFEROMETRY
MIRRORS
PHOTON EMISSION
PHOTONS
RECOILS
REFLECTION
SPACE
SURFACES