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Applied Physics Letters

Kapitza-Dirac effect with lasers and non-resonant interaction for quantum modulation of electron beams (Schwarz-Hora effect)

Heinrich Hora, Peter H. Handel

Published Apr 8, 2013• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The initial Kapitza-Dirac effect for crossing energetic electron beams with laser beams had been generalized for quantum modulation of the electrons. The recent developments provide advanced insights with the initial experimental facts, where consequences are leading to results about non-resonant laser interaction with condensed media including nonlinearities with applications to quantum 1/f noise theory in electronic devices.

DOI
10.1063/1.4798236

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The initial Kapitza-Dirac effect for crossing energetic electron beams with laser beams had been generalized for quantum modulation of the electrons. The recent developments provide advanced insights with the initial experimental facts, where consequences are leading to results about non-resonant laser interaction with condensed media including nonlinearities with applications to quantum 1/f noise theory in electronic devices.
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.
Abstract The formulation of the momentum of electromagnetic radiation or photons in media is a historical question. After Peierls discussed all these options, a crucial new value for the dominating dispersion factor σ was derived for non-ionized media with the consequence that an opto-acoustic coupling exists. After the experimental confirmation of the Kapitza-Dirac effect the generalization of the effect for quantum modulation of electron beams by crossing laser beams is ascertained. The evaluation of repeated experiments of this quantum modulation is very precisely confirming by measurements that the Peierls factor σ = 1/5 is correct.
The Kapitza-Dirac effect is the scattering of electrons by a standing wave of very intense light, which can nowadays be realized by using laser beam. A theory is presented, in which no assumptions are necessary as to the strength of the field and to the length of the interaction time. Basic is the assumption that the laser beam should have a gentle cross-sectional profile. It allows one to separate the electron motion into two components: The one parallel to the beam is the motion in the periodic field of light, which generates “adiabatic potential” for the motion transverse to the beam. This picture can be compared to that of hydrogen molecule in which electron motion generates the adiabatic potential for nuclear vibration. In this way, it is shown that the problem can be reduced to that of one-dimensional scattering. The present theory is shown to embrace the predecessor theories of Bartell and of Fedorov.
Since the first experiments of the quantum modulation of electron beams by lasers with a crystal as medium in the interaction area ~d1warz-Hora effect) were reported, extensive theoretical studies were performed.A very detaile/ rLproduction of these experiments was achieved (by Andrick and Langhans, further by Weingartshofer et al) where the medium in the interaction area was a gas.The initial clarification of the experiments with crystal as a quantum phenomenon is using a threshold defining a correspondence principle for electromagnetic interaction.Recent experiments by Weingartshofer et al independently confirm this correspondence principle.For two other experiments the ranges of quantum and classical regimes are elaborated to explain the basically differing character of observations.The discussion of the coherence for matter waves is followed up from the beginning of the Schwarz-Hora effect including developments reviewed by Hawkes and indicating further generalizations by the Hanbury-Brown/ Twiss effect.A consequent generalization of the scattering theory of the quantum modulation is presented based on a Green's function solution which results in the fact that far-field superpositions only lead to interferences.The problems of the re-emission of photons from quantum modulated electron beams is discussed and experiments on indirect observations of the phenomena in microwave amplification and in the 1/f noise Handel effect are reported.In the last case. . the self-interaction of electrons are involved in the Handel effect.A further second-quantised derivation and the coherent state Handel effect is presented.
The Kapitza-Dirac effect is the diffraction of a well-collimated particle beam by a standing wave of light. Why is this interesting? Comparing this situation to the introductory physics textbook example of diffraction of a laser beam by a grating, the particle beam plays the role of the incoming wave and the standing light wave the role of the material grating, highlighting particle-wave duality. Apart from representing such a beautiful example of particle-wave duality, the diffracted particle beams are coherent. This allows the construction of matter interferometers and explains why the Kapitza-Dirac effect is one of the workhorses in the field of atom optics. Atom optics concerns the manipulation of atomic waves in ways analogous to the manipulation of light waves with optical elements. The excitement and activity in this new field of physics stems in part from the realization that the shorter de Broglie wavelengths of matter waves allow ultimate sensitivities for diffractive and interferometric experiments that in principle would far exceed their optical analogues. Not only is the Kapitza-Dirac effect an important enabling tool for this field of physics, but diffraction peaks have never been observed for electrons, for which it was originally proposed in 1933. Why has this not been observed? What is the relation between the interaction of laser light with electrons and the interaction of laser light with atoms, or in other words what is the relation between the ponderomotive potential and the lightshift potential? Would it be possible to build interferometers using the Kapitza-Dirac effect for other particles? These questions will be addressed in this paper.