Diffraction in time

Short description: Diffraction of matter waves at the quantum scale

In quantum physics, diffraction in time is a phenomenon associated with the quantum dynamics of suddenly released matter waves initially confined in a region of space. It was introduced in 1952 by Ukrainian-Mexican physicist Marcos Moshinsky with the shutter problem.[1] A matter-wave beam stopped by an absorbing shutter exhibits an oscillatory density profile during its propagation after removal of the shutter. Whenever this propagation is accurately described by the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, the transient wave functions resemble the solutions that appear for the intensity of light subject to Fresnel diffraction by a straight edge. For this reason, the transient phenomenon was dubbed diffraction in time and has since then been recognised as ubiquitous in quantum dynamics.[2][3] The experimental confirmation of this phenomenon was only achieved about half a century later in the group of ultracold atoms directed by Jean Dalibard.[4] Photonic analog of the time diffraction was also observed with a temporal double-slit configuration in 2023 with a group directed by John Pendry and Riccardo Sapienza.[5]

## References

1. ↑ Moshinsky, M. (1952). "Diffraction in time". Physical Review 88 (3): 625–631. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.88.625. Bibcode: 1952PhRv...88..625M.
2. ↑ Kleber, M. (1994). "Exact solutions for time-dependent phenomena in quantum mechanics". Physics Reports 236 (6): 331–393. doi:10.1016/0370-1573(94)90029-9. Bibcode: 1994PhR...236..331K.
3. ↑ del Campo, A.; García-Calderón, G.; Muga, J. G. (2009). "Quantum transients". Physics Reports 476 (1–3): 1–50. doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2009.03.002. Bibcode: 2009PhR...476....1D.
4. ↑ Szriftgiser, A.; Guéry-Odelin, D.; Arndt, M.; Dalibard, J. (1996). "Atomic Wave Diffraction and Interference Using Temporal Slits". Physical Review Letters 77 (1): 4–7. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.4. PMID 10061757. Bibcode: 1996PhRvL..77....4S.
5. ↑ Tirole, Romain; Vezzoli, Stefano; Galiffi, Emanuele; Robertson, Iain; Maurice, Dries; Tilmann, Benjamin; Maier, Stefan A.; Pendry, John B. et al. (2023). "Double-slit time diffraction at optical frequencies". Nature Physics 19: 999–1002.

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