Diffraction of CH₄ from a Metal Surface

Diffraction with matter waves has been reported since the beginning of quantum mechanics. In free space, diffraction effects have been observed even with objects as large as C₆₀ molecules. However, in scattering from a solid surface, pure elastic diffraction features have never been observed with molecules larger than D₂. Here we report the observation of pure molecular diffraction for CH₄ scattered off of an Ir(111) surface. These results prove that quantum coherence is preserved, despite the small separation between rotational levels and the interaction with surface phonons. Density functional theory calculations of the potential energy surface provide some clues to understand the larger corrugation sampled by CH₄ molecules in comparison to Ne atoms. Our results show that isotope separation of polyatomic molecules may be possible using gas-surface diffraction.