Seminars

# PIER Photon Science Colloquium: Probing the Limits of Quantum Physics by Means of Nanoscience

## by Herbert Gleiter (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie)

Friday, May 3, 2013 from to (Europe/Berlin)
at DESY Hamburg ( CFEL Lecture Hall, Bldg. 99 )
 Description In recent years a new branch of nanoscience has emerged and nanoscience methods have been applied in areas such as quantum physics. Matter wave interferometry was among the first experiments to test the predictions of quantum physics. However, the gap from the microscopic to the macroscopic world (described by classical physics) is still substantial. We perform Poisson Spot studies with clusters of up to 1 million amu. A cluster beam passes a thin (e.g. a graphene) disc and is subsequently deposited onto a substrate. The goal is to find out if there is any deviation between the cluster distribution observed and the one predicted by quantum physics. If no deviation would be found, one would be led to conclude that the classical appearance of the macroscopic world is due to our inability to isolate quantum systems sufficiently well. A deviation of the observed interference pattern from the one predicted by linear quantum physics would suggest to invoke the idea to modify the equations of quantum physics by non-linear terms.