Description:

Abstract: Throughout the last century, quantum physics has become one of the most important pillars of modern physics, proven correct in all experiments so far. And yet the concepts of quantum theory are hard to grasp by our classical intuition. Oftentimes, this is related to the quantum superposition principle which is most easily visualized in the famous double slit experiments. When particles need to be described by quantum waves we often pictorially say that particles ‘are’ at different locations at the same time, meaning they must acquire information from places they could not explore as classical billiard balls. The discovery of matter-waves goes back to Louis de Broglie and we will celebrate its centenary in 2023. De Broglie himself assumed the concept to be valid for any massive object, but until recently matter-waves had only been demonstrated for electrons, neutrons, atoms and diatomic molecules. If quantum physics is a universally valid theory, how can we construct experiments that demonstrate and utilize it for the most universal class of particles and materials? Is there any limit in particle mass and complexity? Why do we see wave-like delocalization with atoms but not with students? I will present a series of quantum interference experiments that we have conducted at the University of Vienna. We were able to demonstrate the wave nature of atoms, fullerenes, dye molecules, vitamins, peptides and large organic molecules composed of up to 2000 atoms. I will discuss the technological challenges and touch on the philosophical implications in these experiments which we are pushing even further, to probe the interface between quantum physics and chemistry and metrology, biomolecular science, gravity and the classical world.

Professor Markus Arndt, University of Vienna

Keywords: CFP, Physics