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Time-of-flight resolved transmission-grating diffraction of molecular beams

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Abstract.

Diffraction of molecular beams of CH3F, CHF3, and metastable He* and Ne* from a 100-nm-period micro-fabricated transmission grating has been observed. Due to the finite velocity spread and the corresponding temporal coherence of the molecular beams, diffraction peaks of only the first few orders are resolved in total-intensity measurements, while higher order peaks are increasingly broadened and smeared-out. Combining time-of-flight (TOF) measurements with angular scans has allowed to observe TOF-resolved diffraction data which yield full resolution of all detected diffraction peaks. Here, this method has been applied to investigate atom/molecule-surface interactions. In general, it can be used to observe resolved diffraction patterns of a wide range of atomic and molecular beams whose broad velocity distributions prevent peak-resolution in conventional total-intensity measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, Bunsenstraße 10, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    W. Schöllkopf, R. E. Grisenti & J. P. Toennies

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  1. W. Schöllkopf
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  2. R. E. Grisenti
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  3. J. P. Toennies
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Correspondence to W. Schöllkopf.

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Received: 3 September 2003, Published online: 21 October 2003

PACS:

39.20. + q Atom interferometry techniques - 03.75.Be Atom and neutron optics - 07.77.Gx Atomic and molecular beam sources and detectors - 34.50.Dy Interactions of atoms and molecules with surfaces; photon and electron emission; neutralization of ions

W. Schöllkopf: Present address: Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Abteilung Molekülphysik, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany.

R.E. Grisenti: Present address: Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Institut für Kernphysik, August-Euler-Str. 6, 60486 Frankfurt, Germany.

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Schöllkopf, W., Grisenti, R.E. & Toennies, J.P. Time-of-flight resolved transmission-grating diffraction of molecular beams. Eur. Phys. J. D 28, 125–133 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00288-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00288-0

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