Atomic versus molecular diffraction: Influence of break-ups and finite size

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Atomic diffraction through double slits and transmission gratings is well described in terms of the associated de Broglie waves and classical wave optics. However, for weakly bound and relatively large systems, such as the He₂ dimer, this might no longer hold true due to the possibility of break-up processes and finite-size effects. We therefore study the diffraction of weakly bound two-particle systems. If the bar and slit widths of the grating are much larger than the diameter of the two-particle system we recover the usual optics results. For smaller widths, however, deviations therefrom occur. We find that the location of possible diffraction peaks is indeed still governed by the usual grating function from optics, but the peaks may have a lower intensity. This is not unexpected when break-up processes are allowed. More unusually though, diffraction peaks which would be absent for de Broglie waves may reappear. The results are illustrated for diffraction of He₂.