Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 159, 1-9 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00687-9

On the prospects of interferometry and deflectometry for characterizing large molecules

Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Wien, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Wien, Austria

Corresponding author: markus.arndt@univie.ac.at

Abstract

We investigate the prospects of near-field matter-wave interferometry for the sensitive determination of molecular properties, such as electric polarizabilities, electric and magnetic dipole moments or even life-times of some molecular states. We discuss how important principles of our present quantum experiments can be transferred to the classical regime, i.e. to a Moiré deflectometer in order to also measure characteristic properties of large clusters and biomolecules.