Emanuele Galiffi — Universität Heidelberg #
Quantum Reflection on 2D corrugated surfaces #
The numerical propagation of a wavepacket in two dimensions (2D) finds a wide range of applications in 
surface scattering problems, in particular if the potential structure of interest is such that the 
Schroedinger equation cannot be solved analytically. In this project, a highly optimised, norm-preserving 
algorithm is used to solve numerically the Time-Dependent Schroedinger Equation in order to propagate a 
wavepacket in time across a two-dimensional spatial domain. The aim of our study is to investigate the 
quantum reflection of slow atoms as they approach an attractive surface. This will finally enable 
experimental tests of potentials of the Casimir-Van der Waals form to be carried out in Heidelberg, which 
accounts for the interaction with a periodically corrugated effectively 2D surface.