Experiments with electron or ion matter waves require a coherent, monochromatic and long-term stable source with high brightness. These requirements are best fulfilled by single atom tip (SAT) field emitters. The performance of an iridium covered W(111) SAT is demonstrated and analyzed for electrons in a biprism interferometer. Furthermore we characterize the emission of the SAT in a separate field electron and field ion microscope and compare it with other emitter types. A new method is presented to fabricate the electrostatic charged biprism wire that separates and combines the matter wave. In contrast to other biprism interferometers the source and the biprism size are well defined within a few nanometers. The setup has direct applications in ion interferometry and Aharonov-Bohm physics.

High contrast matter-wave interferometry is essential in various fundamental quantum mechanical experiments as well as for technical applications. Thereby, contrast and sensitivity are typically reduced by decoherence and dephasing effects. While decoherence accounts for a general loss of quantum information in a system due to entanglement with the environment, dephasing is due to collective time-dependent external phase shifts, which can be related to temperature drifts, mechanical vibrations or electromagnetic oscillations. In contrast to decoherence, dephasing can in principle be reversed. Here, we demonstrate in experiment and theory a method for the analysis and reduction of the influence of dephasing noise and perturbations consisting of several external frequencies in an electron interferometer. This technique uses the high spatial and temporal resolution of a delay line detector to reveal and remove dephasing perturbations by second order correlation analysis. It allows matter-wave experiments under perturbingly lab conditions and can be applied in principle to electron, atom, ion, neutron and molecule interferometers.

No abstract

Matter-wave interferometry is a highly sensitive tool to measure small perturbations in a quantum system. This property allows the creation of precision sensors for dephasing mechanisms such as mechanical vibrations. They are a challenge for phase measurements under perturbing conditions that cannot be perfectly decoupled from the interferometer, e.g.for mobile interferometric devices or vibrations with a broad frequency range. Here, we demonstrate a method based on second-order correlation theory in combination with Fourier analysis, to use an electron interferometer as a sensor that precisely characterizes the mechanical vibration spectrum of the interferometer. Using the high spatial and temporal single-particle resolution of a delay line detector, the data allows to reveal the original contrast and spatial periodicity of the interference pattern from 'washed-out' matter-wave interferograms that have been vibrationally disturbed in the frequency region between 100 and 1000 Hz. Other than with electromagnetic dephasing, due to excitations of higher harmonics and additional frequencies induced from the environment, the parts in the setup oscillate with frequencies that can be different to the applied ones. The developed numerical search algorithm is capable to determine those unknown oscillations and corresponding amplitudes. The technique can identify vibrational dephasing and decrease damping and shielding requirements in electron, ion, neutron, atom and molecule interferometers that generate a spatial fringe pattern on the detector plane.

Vibrations, electromagnetic oscillations and temperature drifts are among the main reasons for dephasing in matter-wave interferometry. Sophisticated interferometry experiments, e.g. with ions or heavy molecules, often require integration times of several minutes due to the low source intensity or the high velocity selection. Here we present a scheme to suppress the influence of such dephasing mechanisms -especially in the low-frequency regime -by analyzing temporal and spatial particle correlations available in modern detectors. Such correlations can reveal interference properties that would otherwise be washed out due to dephasing by external oscillating signals. The method is shown experimentally in a biprism electron interferometer where a perturbing oscillation is artificially introduced by a periodically varying magnetic field. We provide a full theoretical description of the particle correlations where the perturbing frequency and amplitude can be revealed from the disturbed interferogram. The original spatial fringe pattern without the perturbation can thereby be restored. The technique can be applied to lower the general noise requirements in matter-wave interferometers. It allows for the optimization of electromagnetic shielding and decreases the efforts for vibrational or temperature stabilization. * Electronic address: a.guenther@uni-tuebingen.de †