Alexandrowicz

Molecular Beam Spin Echo – Probing Molecule-Surface Interaction with a Molecular Interferometer

Godsi, G. Corem, Y. Alkoby T. Maniv and G. Alexandrowicz

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

In this talk, I will give a brief description of a new type of experiments we recently developed in our group, where we combine the helium spin-echo setup [1], with the ability to magnetically manipulate and spin-select molecules [2]. The resulting experiment follows the different rotational and nuclear spin states before and after scattering from a surface, by measuring the Rabi oscillations of the different states interfering one with another. A unique advantage of this method, is that it contains information about the angular momentum projections and not only the principle quantum numbers. Furthermore, the technique does not rely on specific optical excitations, making it widely applicable for different types of molecules. In the talk I will present our first results for hydrogen molecules scattering from a flat metallic surface.

[1] Progress in Surface Science, 84, 323 (2009)

[2] Science, 331, 319 (2011).