Abstract
Talbot and Talbot-Lau effects are frequently used in lensless imaging applications with light, ultrasound, x-rays, atoms and molecules--generally in situations where refractive optical elements are non-existent or not suitable. We here show an experimental visualization of the intriguing wave patterns that are associated with near-field interferometry behind a single periodic diffraction grating under plane wave illumination and which are often referred to as Talbot carpets or quantum carpets. We also show the patterns behind two separated diffraction gratings under nearly-monochromatic but spatially incoherent illumination that illustrate the nature of Talbot-Lau carpets.
Highlights
Talbot and Talbot-Lau effects are frequently used in lensless imaging applications with light, ultrasound, x-rays, atoms and molecules – generally in situations where refractive optical elements are non-existent or not suitable
We here show an experimental visualization of the intriguing wave patterns that are associated with near-field interferometry behind a single periodic diffraction grating under plane wave illumination and which are often referred to as Talbot carpets or quantum carpets
The theory of the optical Talbot effect was first developed by Rayleigh [3]
Summary
In the early nineteenth century Talbot discovered the self-imaging of periodic structures through optical near-field diffraction [1]: When plane-parallel light falls onto an absorption mask with periodic openings the light will generate images of this grating in multiples of a well-defined distance, which is called the Talbot length LT (Figure 1). Lau identified the arrangements which generate distinct periodic images at various distances between the gratings and the observation screen [2]. The Talbot and Talbot-Lau effect for de Broglie waves were realized with atoms [21,22,23,24,25], large molecules [26, 27] and electrons [28]. They were even discussed for relativistic particles [29]. The purpose of the present contribution is to close this gap
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