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arXiv:1303.5322 · Physical Review A

Chiral-specific electron-vortex-beam spectroscopy

Jun Tang Yuan, S. M. Lloyd, M. Babiker

Published Sep 18, 2013• 35 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Chiral electron-vortex beams, carrying a well-defined orbital angular momentum (OAM) about the propagation axis, are potentially useful as probes of magnetic and other chiral materials. We present an effective operator, expressible in a multipolar form, describing the inelastic processes in which electron-vortex beams interact with atoms, including those present in Bose-Einstein condensates, involving exchange of OAM. We show clearly that the key properties of the processes are dependent on the dynamical state and location of the atoms involved as well as the vortex-beam characteristics. Our results can be used to identify scenarios in which chiral-specific electron-vortex spectroscopy can probe magnetic sublevel transitions normally studied using circularly polarized photon beams with the advantage of atomic-scale spatial resolution.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.031801

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Chiral electron-vortex beams, carrying a well-defined orbital angular momentum (OAM) about the propagation axis, are potentially useful as probes of magnetic and other chiral materials. We present an effective operator, expressible in a multipolar form, describing the inelastic processes in which electron-vortex beams interact with atoms, including those present in Bose-Einstein condensates, involving exchange of OAM. We show clearly that the key properties of the processes are dependent on the dynamical state and location of the atoms involved as well as the vortex-beam characteristics. Our results can be used to identify scenarios in which chiral-specific electron-vortex spectroscopy can probe magnetic sublevel transitions normally studied using circularly polarized photon beams with the advantage of atomic-scale spatial resolution.
Angular momentum plays a central role in quantum mechanics, recurring in every length scale from the microscopic interactions of light and matter to the macroscopic behavior of superfluids. Vortex beams, carrying intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM), are now regularly generated with elementary particles such as photons and electrons. Thus far, the creation of a vortex beam of a nonelementary particle has never been demonstrated experimentally. We present vortex beams of atoms and molecules, formed by diffracting supersonic beams of helium atoms and dimers off transmission gratings. This method is general and could be applied to most atomic and molecular gases. Our results may open new frontiers in atomic physics, using the additional degree of freedom of OAM to probe collisions and alter fundamental interactions.
Recent experiments involving the interaction of optical vortices with atoms in quadrupole transitions have shown it to be accompanied by the exchange of orbital angular momentum (OAM) between the electronic states of the atom and the optical vortex field. Earlier work, both theoretical and experimental, had ruled out the transfer of a vortex OAM to the electronic degrees of freedom in an electric dipole atomic transition and it has been confirmed that the lowest multipolar order involving an OAM transfer to the electronic motion is indeed the electric quadrupole. Hitherto, the quadrupole transition involving optical vortices has not been quantified and we thus set out to evaluate the absorption rate accompanied by an OAM transfer with reference to the $6^{2}S_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}5^{2}D_{5/2}$ in Cs when cesium atoms are subject to the field of a linearly polarized optical vortex. Our results assuming typical experimentally accessible parameters indicate that the absorption rate for moderate light intensities is lower than the quadrupole spontaneous emission rate but should still be within the measurement capabilities of modern spectroscopic techniques.
This study presents an innovative scheme for detecting the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of vortex beams within an atomic ensemble. Leveraging a homogeneously broadened four-level atomic system driven by two orthogonal polarization probe beams, we demonstrate the selective generation of structured beams without the need for magnetic fields between the two ground states. Through detailed theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we elucidate the phase-dependent behavior of atomic coherences induced by an OAM-carrying Laguerre–Gaussian optical probe beam. These findings enable the creation of petal-like structures within the probe beam, with the number of petals directly correlated to the OAM value. Our investigation underscores the potential of this OAM detection scheme as a highly sensitive and precise sensor, applicable across diverse domains such as telecommunication, microscopy, and optical metrology.
Recent theoretical and experimental developments in the field of electron-vortex-beam physics have raised questions about what exactly this novelty in the field of electron microscopy (and other fields, such as particle physics) really provides. An important part of the answer to these questions lies in scattering theory. The present investigation explores various aspects of inelastic quantum scattering theory for cylindrically symmetric beams with orbital angular momentum. The model system of Coulomb scattering on a hydrogen atom provides the setting to address various open questions: How is momentum transferred? Do vortex beams selectively excite atoms, and how can one employ vortex beams to detect magnetic transitions? The analytical approach presented here provides answers to these questions. OAM transfer is possible, but not through selective excitation; rather, by pre- and postselection one can filter out the relevant contributions to a specific signal.
We study the propagation of probe pulses carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) in a crystal of molecular magnets characterized by a double-$\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ light-matter coupling scheme. The model is based on the four-wave mixing (FWM) of applied fields interacting with the magnetic dipole moment of the molecular magnets. We consider the light-matter interaction under the situation where a weak probe field carries an optical vortex and investigate the exchange of optical vortices between different frequencies via the FWM in the microwave region. The propagation of OAM beams with nonzero radial indices is then explored. It is found that the conservation of both azimuthal and radial indices is satisfied over the swapping of OAM states of light. Superimposing two initially weak OAM modes with different topological charges creates specific vortex beams with a very characteristic form. The resulting beam contains a central vortex as well as several singly charged peripheral vortices distributed at the same radial distance from the center of the light beam. This complex pattern of vortices arises because the intensity radius of two interfering OAM modes is different. It is shown that the boundary region of intensity dominance of two OAM modes can be controlled by the molecular magnets parameters and strong cw electromagnetic fields. Our proposed scheme may provide a route to study the solid systems suitable for quantum technologies as well as for OAM exchange devices for quantum information processing.
The exchange of orbital angular momentum (OAM) between paraxial optical vortex and a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of atomic gases is well known. In this paper, we develop a theory for the microscopic interaction between matter and an optical vortex beyond paraxial approximation. We show how superposition of vortex states of BEC can be created with a focused optical vortex. Since the polarization or spin angular momentum (SAM) of the optical field is coupled with OAM of the field, in this case, these angular momenta can be transferred to the internal electronic and external center-of-mass motion of atoms provided both the motions are coupled. We propose a scheme for producing the superposition of matter-wave vortices using Gaussian and a focused Laguerre-Gaussian beam. We study how two-photon Rabi frequencies of stimulated Raman transitions vary with focusing angles for different combinations of OAM and SAM of optical states. We demonstrate the formation of vortex-antivortex structure and discuss interference of three vortex states in a BEC.