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Frontiers in Optics

Quantum Electron-Optics - New Research Directions

Avraham Gover, Du Ran, Bin Zhang, Yiming Pan, Reuven Ianconescu, Jacob Scheuer, A. Friedman, Amnon Yariv

Published Jan 1, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Review of emerging research on interaction of free electrons with light and matter in the quantum regime. Theory of stimulated and spontaneous interactions of pre-shaped quantum electron wavepackets with light and with bound electron qubit states.
DOI
10.1364/fio.2021.fth6d.1

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Electrons in atoms and molecules are versatile physical systems allowing a vast range of light–matter interactions. Spontaneous emission, which appears in a wide variety of applications, depends crucially on the bound electron energy levels. The discrete nature of these electron energy levels and the ionization threshold constrain the energy scale of all light–matter interactions involving bound electrons. To bypass these constraints, we take ideas from optical and electronic beam shaping and propose creating new electron states as superpositions of extended states above the ionization threshold. We show that such superpositions enable the control of spontaneous emission with tunable spectra in the eV–keV range. We find that the specific shaping lengthens the diffraction and radiative lifetimes of the wavepackets in exchange for increasing their spatial spreads. Our approach could have applications toward developing novel kinds of light emitters at hard-to-access spectral ranges.
Electrons in atoms and molecules are versatile physical systems covering a vast range of light-matter interactions, enabling the physics of Rydberg states, photon-photon bound states, simulation of condensed matter Hamiltonians, and quantum sources of light. A limitation on the versatility of such electronic systems for optical interactions would appear to arise from the discrete nature of the electronic transitions and from the limited ionization energy, constraining the energy scale through which the rich physics of bound electrons can be accessed. In this work, we propose the concept of shaping spatially confined electron wavepackets as superpositions of extended states in the ionization continuum. These wavepackets enable customizable optical emission spectra transitions in the eV-keV range. We find that the specific shaping lengthens the diffraction lifetime of the wavepackets in exchange for increasing their spatial spreads. Finally, we study the spontaneous radiative transitions of these excited states, examining the influence of the wavepacket shape and size on the radiation rate of the excited state. We observe that the rate of radiative capture is primarily limited by the diffraction lifetime of the wavepacket. The approach proposed in this work could have applications towards developing designer emitters at tunable energy and length scales, potentially bringing the physics of Rydberg states to new energy scales and extending the range and versatility of emitters that can be developed using shaped electrons.
This work presents a general framework for quantum interference between processes that can involve different fundamental particles or quasi-particles. This framework shows that shaping input wavefunctions is a versatile and powerful tool for producing and controlling quantum interference between distinguishable pathways, beyond previously explored quantum interference between indistinguishable pathways. Two examples of quantum interference enabled by shaping in interactions between free electrons, bound electrons, and photons are presented: i) the vanishing of the zero-loss peak by destructive quantum interference when a shaped electron wavepacket couples to light, under conditions where the electron's zero-loss peak otherwise dominates; ii) quantum interference between free electron and atomic (bound electron) spontaneous emission processes, which can be significant even when the free electron and atom are far apart, breaking the common notion that a free electron and an atom must be close by to significantly affect each other's processes. Conclusions show that emerging quantum wave-shaping techniques unlock the door to greater versatility in light-matter interactions and other quantum processes in general.