Our Goals & Achievements

Starting from the desire to understand the limits of quantum physics and its interface to the clasical world, we have expanded our interests to explorartions of the interface between quantum optics, chemistry and biomolecular sciences. We've been working on

  • First coherent matter-wave beam splitting of complex molecules
    • Nanomechanical masks
    • Single layer graphene structures
    • Optical phase gratings, with and without absorptive components
    • Optical Bragg diffraction
    • Deep UV gratings
  • First interferometers for macromolecules & cluters of molecules & nanoparticles
    • Talbot-Lau interferometry (TLI)
    • Generalized Talbot-Lau Interferometry with Surface Probe Detection
    • Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau Interferometry (KDTLI)
    • Optical Time-Domain Photodepletion Matter-Wave Interferometry (OTIMA)
    • Long-baseline Universal Matter-Wave Interferometry (LUMI 1.0)
  • 2019 Mass World Record in Matter-Wave Interferometry:
    • 25-28 kDa 
  • First matter wave interferometry with complex biomolecules
    • Biodyes (Far-field, TLI, KDTLI, LUMI, OTIMA)
    • Neurotransmitters (Far-field)
    • Vitamins (KDTLI, LUMI)
    • Thermal tripeptides (LUMI)
    • Complex antibiotic polypeptides (OTIMA)
  • First matter-wave assisted molecule metrology for analytical bio/chemistry
    where we use matter-waves interference patterns as nanoscale rulers in the presence of external fields in high vacuum to measure numerous properties: 
    • Electronic: static polarizability & dipole moment
    • Optical: absorption cross section & optical polarizability
    • Magnetic: susceptibilities & dipole moments
    • Structural: structure isomers & conformers
    • Collisional: collisional decoherence
    • Dynamical: changes in either one of the above in as far as they alter the response of the de Broglie interference pattern to changes in the environment.
  • Advanced molecular beam technologies:
    • Biomolecules: thermal, laser microfocus, LIAD, LD, JetLD, ESI, fs-melt-out 
    • Organic clusters: from hot vapors in supersonic jets.
    • Metal clusters: giant cluster aggregation & cryogenic cooling.
  • Advanced molecule detection techniques:
    • Single molecule imaging: STM, SEM, Fluorescence imaging ...
    • Ionization schemes: electron impact, single-photon, multi-photon, thermionic, ...
  • Optomechanics of dielectric nanoparticles:
    • First cavity cooling of silicon nanoparticles in high vacuum
    • First rotational control of nanorods with 10-11 precision over their rotation frequency.
    • New launch schemes for nanoparticles in high vacuum
  • Quantum tools for mass spectrometry:
    • Superconducting nanowires as detectors for ions.
    • First superconducting nanowires as detectors for neutral particles.
    • Single-photon-cleavage charge control of tailored tags on biopolymers.