Quantum mechanical double slit for molecular scattering

Interference observed in a double-slit experiment most conclusively demonstrates the wave properties of particles. We construct a quantum mechanical double-slit interferometer by rovibrationally exciting molecular deuterium (D-2) in a biaxial (v = 2, j = 2) state using Stark-induced adiabatic Raman passage, where v and j represent the vibrational and rotational quantumnumbers, respectively. In D-2 (v = 2, j = 2). D-2 (v = 2, j' = 0) rotational relaxation via a cold collision with ground state helium, the two coherently coupled bond axis orientations in the biaxial state act as two slits that generate two indistinguishable quantum mechanical pathways connecting initial and final states of the colliding system. The interference disappears when we decouple the two orientations of the bond axis by separately constructing the uniaxial states of D-2, unequivocally establishing the double-slit action of the biaxial state. This double slit opens new possibilities in the coherent control of molecular collisions.

Automated summary

The interference observed in a double-slit experiment definitively demonstrates the wave properties of particles, and a quantum mechanical double-slit interferometer is constructed using molecular deuterium. The existence of two indistinguishable quantum mechanical pathways connecting initial and final states of the colliding system is established through the biaxial state.