the delocalized chemist

The task to sort molecules can be quite challenging if they are very similar. This is even more the case if you want to sort a single molecular species according to its three-dimensional structure. The problem is that for most molecules a number of these so-called conformers are present and that they easily interconvert at room temperature. In a new study we propose how such a sorting can be achieved with molecular interference. We show how internally cold beams populated with just a single structure can be prepared. These might open new vistas for structure-sensitive collision studies. More information can be found here soon.

All four structures show the same molecule, they only differ in the three-dimensional arrangement. With our method we can make sure that both first diffraction orders (±1) are populated only with the red conformer, while it is a mixture of a four conformers for all other diffraction orders.

Born’s rule is one of the cornerstones of quantum physics. Needless to say that a potential violation of this rule might point to something very interesting happening. In a brand new publication we report about the first explicit test of this rule with matter-waves. Using a special slit mask manufactured by Ori Cheshnovsky at the University of Tel Aviv, we were able to state the first bounds on the impact of non-standard quantum mechanics. More information can be found here.

Diffracting massive molecules at a combination of slits to test Born’s rule.