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Scientific Reports

Time domain double slit interference of electron produced by XUV synchrotron radiation

T. Kaneyasu, Y. Hikosaka, S. Wada, Masaki Fujimoto, Hiroshi Ota, Hiroshi Iwayama, Masahiro Katoh

Published Apr 15, 2023• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a new realization of the time-domain double-slit experiment with photoelectrons, demonstrating that spontaneous radiation from a bunch of relativistic electrons can be used to control the quantum interference of single-particles. The double-slit arrangement is realized by a pair of light wave packets with attosecond-controlled spacing, which is naturally included in the spontaneous radiation from two undulators in series. Photoelectrons emitted from helium atoms are observed in the energy-domain under the condition of detecting them one by one, and the stochastic buildup of the quantum interference pattern on a detector plane is recorded.

DOI
10.1038/s41598-023-33039-9

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We present a new realization of the time-domain double-slit experiment with photoelectrons, demonstrating that spontaneous radiation from a bunch of relativistic electrons can be used to control the quantum interference of single-particles. The double-slit arrangement is realized by a pair of light wave packets with attosecond-controlled spacing, which is naturally included in the spontaneous radiation from two undulators in series. Photoelectrons emitted from helium atoms are observed in the energy-domain under the condition of detecting them one by one, and the stochastic buildup of the quantum interference pattern on a detector plane is recorded.
Abstract Control of interference between wave packets is one of the basic concepts in coherent control that enables quantum manipulation of populations and reaction pathways in matter. We have recently shown a new method to achieve coherent control in the extreme ultraviolet and attosecond regime using synchrotron radiation. This method is based on the use of longitudinal coherence of light wave packets that are naturally included in the undulator radiation. For quantum manipulation of atomic systems, wave packet interference is precisely controlled by tuning the time delay between the light wave packets. Here we show that the quantum phase controlled by the time delay can be monitored as an initial phase of the quantum beat oscillation in fluorescence decay.
Double-slit diffraction studies with photons or massive particles rank among the most beautiful experiments in physics. In particular, measurements at very low intensities demonstrate the particle-wave duality and the coherent superposition of states very clearly. In this paper, low-intensity double-slit experiments in the time domain are presented measuring the spectral distribution of synchrotron light from a single relativistic electron in a storage ring. In two consecutive radiation sources (so-called undulators) with a magnetic detour between them, electrons emit two temporally separated light pulses leading to a spectrum with interference fringes, very much like the angular distribution of light behind two spatially separated slits. Independent experiments at two synchrotron light sources (DELTA in Germany and UVSOR-III in Japan) directly demonstrate that the spectral distribution of accumulated synchrotron light from a single electron is essentially the same as the spectrum from a beam of many electrons. While the latter is usually explained as interference between electromagnetic waves from the two undulators, the single-electron experiments demonstrate that coherent photon emission is delocalized over several meters and the accumulated spectral distribution exhibits a deterministic interference pattern at small wavelengths. The experiments presented here were conducted with near-ultraviolet light to avoid an elaborate in-vacuum setup, but the very wide spectral range of synchrotron radiation, from infrared light to X-rays, enables access to regimes not available in laser-based quantum optics experiments.
We study a temporal version of Young's interference experiment by attosecond soft-x-ray pulses. The photoelectron energy spectra by attosecond double pulses exhibit an interference pattern, since we have no information on which pulse has generated the electron. We can re-establish the ``which-way'' information and control the interference visibility by changing the electron's momentum with phase-stabilized laser pulses, by an amount depending on the time of ionization. Moreover, if we use a triple pulse, we can realize a situation where the electron passes through a single and a double slit simultaneously to the same direction and is observed by the same detector.
We present a theoretical study of photoelectron emission of a homonuclear molecule by an attosecond xuv pulse, which can be regarded as a natural double-slit experiment. We show that attosecond electron motion inside the molecule opens one to two 'slits' for photoionization. Interference fringes in the angle-resolved photoelectron momentum distributions exhibit varying visibility (V), depending on the degree of which-path information (P). The complementarity relation, P2 + V2 ≤ 1, is verified in the time-dependent molecule double-slit experiment. Hence, the electron motion can be easily mapped out by measuring the interference visibility. This opens up the prospect of employing interferometric techniques to probe ultrafast intramolecular electronic motions.
The double-slit experiment strikingly demonstrates the wave-particle duality of quantum objects. In this famous experiment, particles pass one-by-one through a pair of slits and are detected on a distant screen. A distinct wave-like pattern emerges after many discrete particle impacts as if each particle is passing through both slits and interfering with itself. Here we present a temporally- and spatially-resolved measurement of the double-slit interference pattern using single photons. We send single photons through a birefringent double-slit apparatus and use a linear array of single-photon detectors to observe the developing interference pattern. The analysis of the buildup allows us to compare quantum mechanics and the corpuscular model, which aims to explain the mystery of single-particle interference. Finally, we send one photon from an entangled pair through our double-slit setup and show the dependence of the resulting interference pattern on the twin photon's measured state. Our results provide new insight into the dynamics of the buildup process in the double-slit experiment, and can be used as a valuable resource in quantum information applications.
A single-atom "double-slit" experiment is realized by photoionizing rubidium atoms using two independent low power lasers. The photoelectron wave of well-defined energy recedes to the continuum either from the 5P or 6P states in the same atom, resulting in two-path interference imaged in the far field using a photoelectron detector. Even though the lasers are independent and not phase locked, the transitions within the atom impart the phase relationship necessary for interference. The experiment is designed so that either 5P or 6P states are excited by one laser, before ionization by the second beam. The measurement cannot determine which excitation path is taken, resulting in interference in wave-vector space analogous to Young's double-slit studies. As the lasers are tunable in both frequency and intensity, the individual excitation-ionization pathways can be varied, allowing dynamic control of the interference term. Since the electron wave recedes in the Coulomb potential of the residual ion, a quantum model is used to capture the dynamics. Excellent agreement is found between theory and experiment.