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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Native Cell Membrane Nanoparticles System for Membrane Protein-Protein Interaction Analysis
Published on: July 16, 2020
Matter-wave interference of a native polypeptide
A Shayeghi1, P Rieser1, G Richter1
1Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, VCQ, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090, Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
The de Broglie wave nature of matter is a paradigmatic example of quantum physics and it has been exploited in precision measurements of forces and fundamental constants. However, matter-wave interferometry has remained an outstanding challenge for natural polypeptides, building blocks of life, which are fragile and difficult to handle. Here, we demonstrate the wave nature of gramicidin, a natural antibiotic composed of 15 amino acids. Its center of mass is delocalized over more than 20 times the molecular size in our time-domain Talbot-Lau interferometer. We compare the observed interference fringes with a model that includes both a rigorous treatment of the peptide's quantum wave nature as well as a quantum chemical assessment of its optical properties to distinguish our result from classical predictions. The realization of quantum optics with this prototypical biomolecule paves the way for quantum-assisted measurements on a large class of biologically relevant molecules.
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