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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Author Spotlight: Characterizing Porous Materials for Aiding the Development of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adsorption Behavior

Author Spotlight: Characterizing Porous Materials for Aiding the Development of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adsorption Behavior

Published on: March 8, 2024

Diffraction of CH₄ from a Metal Surface.

Amjad Al Taleb^1,2, Gloria Anemone¹, Linsen Zhou³

¹Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada , Universidad Autónoma de Madrid , 28049 Madrid , Spain.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

|March 12, 2019

Summary

Researchers observed pure molecular diffraction for methane (CH4) molecules scattered off an iridium surface. This demonstrates quantum coherence preservation in larger molecules, opening possibilities for isotope separation via gas-surface diffraction.

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Area of Science:

Quantum Mechanics
Surface Science
Molecular Physics

Background:

Matter wave diffraction is a fundamental quantum phenomenon.
Diffraction has been observed with large molecules like C60 in free space.
Pure elastic molecular diffraction from solid surfaces was previously limited to small molecules like D2.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the possibility of observing pure molecular diffraction for larger molecules scattering off a solid surface.
To demonstrate the preservation of quantum coherence in polyatomic molecules during surface interactions.
To explore the potential of gas-surface diffraction for isotope separation.

Main Methods:

Experimental observation of molecular diffraction for methane (CH4) scattered from an Ir(111) surface.
Utilizing density functional theory (DFT) to calculate the potential energy surface.
Comparing the interaction of CH4 with Ne atoms on the Ir(111) surface.

Main Results:

Successfully observed pure molecular diffraction for CH4 scattered off an Ir(111) surface.
Confirmed that quantum coherence is maintained despite small rotational level separations and surface phonon interactions.
DFT calculations revealed a larger sampled corrugation for CH4 compared to Ne atoms.

Conclusions:

Pure molecular diffraction is achievable with polyatomic molecules like CH4 on solid surfaces.
Quantum coherence is robust in CH4 during gas-surface scattering.
Gas-surface diffraction offers a potential method for isotope separation of polyatomic molecules.