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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 30, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Published on: March 30, 2017

Return to coherence via Debye-Waller factor quenching.

Andrea C Levi¹

¹Dipartimento di Fisica, CNISM and Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, I-16146 Genova, Italy.

Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal

|August 12, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Quantum decoherence can be overcome in scattering experiments. This allows quantum wave-like phenomena, like interference, to reappear even in situations typically expected to be classical. Keywords: quantum decoherence, scattering experiments, wave-like phenomena.

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Area of Science:

Quantum mechanics
Condensed matter physics
Scattering theory

Background:

Scattering phenomena often exhibit classical behavior due to decoherence.
The Debye-Waller factor typically suppresses quantum interference and diffraction.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate mechanisms for overcoming decoherence in scattering.
To identify conditions under which quantum wave-like phenomena can be restored.

Main Methods:

Analysis of the Debye-Waller factor in various scattering scenarios.
Theoretical examination of momentum transfer and vibrational effects on coherence.

Main Results:

Decoherence can be quenched by distributing momentum transfer among individual atoms.
High-frequency atomic vibrations are less effective in causing decoherence due to short correlation times.
Restoration of coherence enables the reappearance of quantum phenomena.

Conclusions:

Quantum coherence is not always lost in seemingly classical scattering situations.
Specific conditions related to momentum transfer and atomic vibrations can preserve quantum effects.
This research offers new perspectives on controlling quantum phenomena in macroscopic systems.