Atom optics
[4] More bibliography about Atom Optics can be found in the 2017 Resource Letter in the American Journal of Physics.[5] For quantum atom optics see the 2018 review by Pezzè et al.[6] Interference of atom matter waves was first observed by Esterman and Stern in 1930, when a Na beam was diffracted off a surface of NaCl.[7] The short de Broglie wavelength of atoms prevented progress for many years until two technological breakthroughs revived interest: microlithography allowing precise small devices and laser cooling allowing atoms to be slowed, increasing their de Broglie wavelength.[1] Until 2006, the resolution of imaging systems based on atomic beams was not better than that of an optical microscope, mainly due to the poor performance of the focusing elements.At the beginning of the 21st century scientific publications about "atom nano-optics", evanescent field lenses[8] and ridged mirrors[9][10] showed significant improvement.