Fluorescence of surface adsorbed dyes: investigation of a new detector for molecule interferometry

Matter-wave interferometry with large molecules is partially limited by the inefficiency of the commonly used ionization detection schemes. Here we discuss the possibility of employing a surface imaging method in which molecular interferograms with periods in the micron range are adsorbed on a surface and subsequently read using fluorescence microscopy. Our preliminary experiments show that the detection efficiency can be significantly increased compared to electron impact ionization and quadrupole mass spectrometry. However the interpretation of fluorescent molecular patterns requires a good understanding and control of the molecular mobility, the bleaching behavior, and the coverage dependence of the fluorescence intensity.