Matter diffraction at oblique incidence: Higher resolution and the Helium Trimer Efimov state

Abstract

We study the diffraction of atoms and weakly-bound three-atomic molecules from a transmission grating at non-normal incidence. Due to the thickness of the grating bars the slits are partially shadowed. Therefore, the projected slit width decreases more strongly with the angle of incidence than the projected period, increasing, in principle, the experimental resolution. The shadowing, however, requires a revision of the theory of atom diffraction. We derive an expression in the style of the Kirchhoff integral of optics and show that the diffraction pattern exhibits a characteristic asymmetry which must be accounted for when comparing with experimental data. We then analyze the diffraction of weakly bound trimers and show that their finite size manifests itself in a further reduction of the slit width by (3/4)<r> where <r> is the average bond length. The improved resolution at non-normal incidence may in particular allow to discern, by means of their bond lengths, between the small ground state of the helium trimer (<r>=1 nm, Barletta and Kievsky, Phys. Rev. A 64, 042514 (2001)) and its predicted Efimov-type excited state (<r>=8 nm, ibid.), and in this way to experimentally prove the existence of this long-sought Efimov state.