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Optica Acta International Journal of Optics

Justification of the Model for Electron Interference Produced by an Electrostatic Biprism

Jan Komrska, B. Vlachová

Published Mar 1, 1973• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The wave function describing the electron interference produced by an electrostatic biprism derived from the perturbation theory involves an integral which is not easy to evaluate numerically. Using the method of stationary phase it is shown in the paper that the expression of this integral in terms of the Fresnel integrals considerably facilitates the calculations. Physically this expression corresponds to the superposition of two waves emerging from two virtual images of the source diffracted by two opaque half-planes of opposite orientation. In such a way the model widely used for discussions of the interference of this type is justified.

DOI
10.1080/713818747

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Scientific Reports•Jul 18, 2019•41 citations
The wave function describing the electron interference produced by an electrostatic biprism derived from the perturbation theory involves an integral which is not easy to evaluate numerically. Using the method of stationary phase it is shown in the paper that the expression of this integral in terms of the Fresnel integrals considerably facilitates the calculations. Physically this expression corresponds to the superposition of two waves emerging from two virtual images of the source diffracted by two opaque half-planes of opposite orientation. In such a way the model widely used for discussions of the interference of this type is justified.
The paper describes a model of electron interference obtained using an electrostatic bi-prism. The model is an approximation to the actual interference process, in which two diffracted waves, each representing the diffraction of electrons emerging from a single source by an opaque half-plane, are superposed in such a way that the half-planes are of opposite orientation and overlap by a distance equal to the width of the bi-prism filament. The intensity distribution in the interference pattern calculated according to the formula derived from this model is in an exact agreement with the intensity distribution found experimentally. This makes it possible to present a consistent quantitative explanation of all the special properties of the interference pattern, including intensity modulation of the fringes. The model may also serve for detailed interpretation of some interference phenomena in light optics, such as those observed with the help of Fresnel mirrors or a Fresnel bi-prism.
The two-slit interference experiment is usually adopted to discuss the superposition principle applied to radiation and to show the peculiar wave behaviour of material particles. Diffraction and interference of electrons have been demonstrated using, as interferometry devices, a hole, a slit, double hole, two-slits, an electrostatic biprism etc. A number of books, short movies and lectures on the web try to popularize the mysterious behaviour of electrons on the basis of Feynman thought experiment which consists of a Young two-hole interferometer equipped with a detector to reveal single electrons. A short review is reported regarding, i) the pioneering attempts carried out to demonstrate that interference patterns could be obtained with single electrons through an interferometer and, ii) recent experiments, which can be considered as the realization of the thought electron interference experiments adopted by Einstein-Bohr and subsequently by Feynman to discuss key features of quantum physics.
Using a path-integral formalism, we present a reanalysis of the Sagnac experiment with electrons of Hasselbach and Nicklaus [Phys. Rev. A 48, 143 (1993)]. Our analysis, from an inertial frame of reference, makes explicit the central role of the electrostatic biprism in generating interference fringes and recovers the Sagnac formula for the phase shift induced when rotating the interferometer. This phase shift, however, is shown to differ significantly in physical origin from the similar experiment with neutrons. In the electron Sagnac experiment, rotation displaces all classical electron paths closer to (or further from, depending upon direction) the electrostatic biprisms, thereby perturbing the electrostatic potential along these paths, and a phase shift of an electrostatic nature arises. Our analysis yields a corrected expression for the projected area of the interferometer and small numerical corrections to previous work are consequently given.
Experiments on matter wave interference involving up to four beams have been realized using a holographic electron microscope equipped with two electrostatic biprisms. The experimental results obtained for parallel biprisms are presented and discussed. Zusammenfassung. Mit einem holographischen Electronenmikroskop, das mit zwei elektronischen Biprismen ausgestattet ist, wurden Electroneninterferenzexperimente mit bis zu vier beteiligten Strahlen durchgefuhrt. Die experimentellen Resultate fur parallele Biprismen werden dargestellt und diskutiert.
The key features of quantum mechanics are vividly illustrated by the Young-Feynman two-slit thought experiment, whose second part discusses the recording of an electron distribution with one of the two slits partially or totally closed by an aperture. Here, we realize the original Feynman proposal in a modern electron microscope equipped with a high brightness gun and two biprisms, with one of the biprisms used as a mask. By exciting the microscope lenses to conjugate the biprism plane with the slit plane, observations are carried out in the Fraunhofer plane with nearly ideal control of the covering of one of the slits. A second, new experiment is also presented, in which interference phenomena due to partial overlap of the slits are observed in the image plane. This condition is obtained by inserting the second biprism between the two slits and the first biprism and by biasing it in order to overlap their images.