The original 'Poisson spot' experiment had a crucial role in proving the wave nature of light: because of the way that waves diffract, light shining at a circular object casts a bright spot in the centre of the object's shadow.
Thomas Reisinger of the University of Bergen in Norway and his colleagues now demonstrate that a beam of deuterium molecules can also create a Poisson spot — replicating the classical experiment using neutral matter waves.
The authors suggest several potential applications, ranging from 'printing' larger molecules precisely on a surface to the study of quantum decoherence and other effects at the boundary of quantum and classical physics. Unlike other diffraction methods, Poisson's spot is wavelength independent.
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Atom optics: Seeing spots. Nature 459, 486 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459486d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459486d