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arXiv:2201.08525

Testing Quantum Dissipation Theory with Electron Diffraction

Raúl Puente, Zilin Chen, Herman Batelaan

Published Jan 21, 2022• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Decoherence can be provided by a dissipative environment as described by the Caldeira-Leggett equation. This equation is foundational to the theory of quantum dissipation. However, no experimental test has been performed that measures for one physical system both the dissipation and the decoherence. Anglin and Zurek predicted that a resistive surface could provide such a dissipative environment for a free electron wave passing close to it. We propose that the electron wave's coherence and energy loss can be measured simultaneously by using Kapitza-Dirac scattering for varying light intensity.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2201.08525

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Decoherence can be provided by a dissipative environment as described by the Caldeira-Leggett equation. This equation is foundational to the theory of quantum dissipation. However, no experimental test has been performed that measures for one physical system both the dissipation and the decoherence. Anglin and Zurek predicted that a resistive surface could provide such a dissipative environment for a free electron wave passing close to it. We propose that the electron wave's coherence and energy loss can be measured simultaneously by using Kapitza-Dirac scattering for varying light intensity.
Abstract Decoherence can be provided by a dissipative environment as described by the Caldeira–Leggett equation. This equation is foundational to the theory of quantum dissipation. However, no experimental test has been performed that measures for one physical system both the dissipation and the decoherence. Anglin and Zurek predicted that a resistive surface could provide such a dissipative environment for a free electron wave passing close to it. We propose that the electron wave’s coherence and energy loss can be measured simultaneously by using Kapitza–Dirac scattering for varying light intensity.
Feynman once remarked that the double-slit experiment has in its heart the only mystery of quantum mechanics. Arguably, the scientific significance of double-slit experiments lies in motional decoherence and the mechanism behind it. Decoherence of motional states underpins our understanding of quantum-to-classical transition. It is also central to the operation of miniaturized quantum electron devices and poses a resolution limit for electron microscopes. In this work, we provide experimental evidence for the critical role of quantum Brownian motion in electron motional decoherence. We demonstrate, for the first time, clear signatures of electron-metal decoherence and its continuous tunability. Our experiment concludes a two-decade long search for experimental realization of the Anglin-Paz-Zurek proposal, establishing electron-microchannel systems as viable open quantum platforms for free-electron quantum optics. The quantitative agreement between experiment and theory further paves the way for testing the Caldeira-Leggett quantum dissipation theory with free electrons.
Quantum theory is often cited as being one of the most empirically validated theories in terms of its predictive power and precision. These attributes have led to numerous scientific discoveries and technological advancements. However, the precise relationship between quantum and classical physics remains obscure. The prevailing description is known as decoherence theory, where classical physics emerges from a more general quantum theory through environmental interaction. Sometimes referred to as the decoherence program, it does not solve the quantum measurement problem. We believe experiments performed between the microscopic and macroscopic world may help finish the program. The following considers a free electron that interacts with a surface (the environment), providing a controlled decoherence mechanism. There are non-decohering interactions to be examined and quantified before the weaker decohering effects are filtered out. In the first experiment, an electron beam passes over a surface that’s illuminated by low-power laser light. This induces a surface charge redistribution causing the electron deflection. This phenomenon’s parameters are investigated. This system can be well understood in terms of classical electrodynamics, A second experiment tests decoherence theory by introducing a nanofabricated diffraction grating before the surface. The electron undergoes diffraction through the grating, but as the electron passes over the surface it’s predicted by various physical models that the electron will lose its wave interference property. Image charge based models, which predict a larger loss of contrast than what is observed, are falsified (despite experiencing an image charge force). A theoretical study demonstrates how a loss of contrast may not be due to the irreversible process decoherence, but dephasing (a reversible process due to randomization of the wavefunction’s phase). To resolve this ambiguity, a correlation function on an ensemble of diffraction patterns is analyzed after an electron undergoes either process in a path integral calculation. The diffraction pattern is successfully recovered for dephasing, but not for decoherence, thus verifying it as a potential tool in experimental studies to determine the nature of the observed process.
Decoherence and dissipation in quantum systems has been studied extensively in the context of Quantum Brownian Motion. Effective decoherence in coarse grained quantum systems has been a central issue in recent efforts by Zurek and by Hartle and Gell-Mann to address the Quantum Measurement Problem. Although these models can yield very general classical phenomenology, they are incapable of reproducing relevant characteristics expected of a local environment on a quantum system, such as the characteristic dependence of decoherence on environment spatial correlations. I discuss the characteristics of Quantum Brownian Motion in a local environment by examining aspects of first principle calculations and by the construction of phenomenological models. Effective quantum Langevin equations and master equations are presented in a variety of representations. Comparisons are made with standard results such as the Caldeira-Leggett master equation.
Abstract In their famous 1927 experiment, Davisson and Germer observed1 the diffraction of electrons by a periodic material structure, so showing that electrons can behave like waves. Shortly afterwards, Kapitza2 and Dirac3 predicted that electrons should also be diffracted by a standing light wave4. This Kapitza–Dirac effect is analogous to the diffraction of light by a grating, but with the roles of the wave and matter reversed. The electron and the light grating interact extremely weakly, via the ‘ponderomotive potential’5, so attempts to measure the Kapitza–Dirac effect had to wait for the development of the laser. The idea6 that the underlying interaction with light is resonantly enhanced for electrons in an atom led to the observation7 that atoms could be diffracted by a standing wave of light. Deflection of electrons by high-intensity laser light, which is also a consequence of the Kapitza–Dirac effect, has also been demonstrated8. But the coherent interference that characterizes wave diffraction has not hitherto been observed9, 10. Here we report the diffraction of free electrons from a standing light wave—a realization of the Kapitza–Dirac effect as originally proposed.