Eur. Phys. J. D 47, 427-431 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00051-1

Schlieren imaging of nano-scale atom-surface inelastic transition using a Fresnel biprism atom interferometer

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers (CNRS-UMR 7538), Université Paris 13, 99 avenue J.B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
² Institute of Physics - Belgrade, PO box 57, Pregrevica 118, 11080 Zemun, Serbia

Corresponding author: ^a grucker@galilee.univ-paris13.fr

Received: 1 November 2007
Published online: 19 March 2008

Abstract

Surface-induced exo-energetic inelastic transitions among atomic Zeeman states in a magnetic field (“van der Waals – Zeeman” transitions) are useable as tuneable beam splitters. A transversally coherent atom beam impinging a pair of opposite surfaces (e.g. 2 edges of a slit or of an ensemble of periodic slits) gives rise to two coherently diffracted wave packets. Within the wave packet overlap, non-localised interference fringes of the Young-slit type are predicted. From the diffraction pattern observed in the Fraunhofer regime (Schlieren image), detailed information about the transition amplitude on a scale of a few nanometers should be derived.