We provide a self-contained quantum description of the interference produced by macromolecules diffracted by a grating, with particular reference to fullerene interferometry experiments. We analyze the processes inducing loss of coherence consisting in beam preparation (collimation setup and thermal spread of the wavelengths of the macromolecules) and in environmental disturbances. The results show a good agreement with experimental data published by Zeilinger's group and highlight the analogy with optics. Our analysis gives some hints for planning future experiments.Comment: 20 pages LaTeX, 8 figure

When a filter is placed in front of a double slit illuminated by a primary source of finite extent, the theory of partial coherence predicts that in general the interference fringes do not acquire unit visibility even as the passband of the filter is made arbitrarily narrow. The effect of reducing the filter bandwidth is that the visibility of the fringes tends to the modulus of the spectral degree of coherence and that more interference fringes become visible. A systematic experimental verification of these theoretical predictions is lacking so far and is provided here from the use of a highly sensitive CCD camera.

No abstract

No abstract

The ac-transport properties of a one-dimensional quantum dot with non-Fermi liquid correlations are investigated. It is found that the linear photoconductance is drastically influenced by the interaction. Temperature and voltage dependences of the sideband peaks are treated in detail. Characteristic Luttinger liquid power laws are founded.Comment: accepted in European Physical Journal