Molecular Magnetism in LUMI Interferometry

23.06.2020

The Arndt Group's first interferometric measurements of molecular diamagnetism have just been published in PCCP!

We measure the diamagnetic deflection of anthracene and adamantane in a long-baseline matter-wave interferometer. From the nanometer-level deflection we extract the magnetic susceptibilities of the molecules which we compare with calculations and previous results. Adamantane yields an isotropic average mass susceptibility of −8.0 ± 1.1 m3 kg−1, consistent with expectations, while anthracene yields a higher-than-anticipated value of −13.6 ± 1.3 m3 kg−1. We attribute the high anthracene value to the planar aromatic molecule's magnetic anisotropy and partial alignment in the molecular beam, and estimate the magnitude of the effect on the observed deflection.