Biprism Electron Interferometry with a Single Atom Tip Source

Abstract

Experiments with electron or ion matter waves require a coherent, monochromatic and long-term stable source with high brightness. These requirements are best fulfilled by single atom tip (SAT) field emitters. The performance of an iridium covered W(111) SAT is demonstrated and analyzed for electrons in a biprism interferometer. Furthermore we characterize the emission of the SAT in a separate field electron and field ion microscope and compare it with other emitter types. A new method is presented to fabricate the electrostatic charged biprism wire that separates and combines the matter wave. In contrast to other biprism interferometers the source and the biprism size are well defined within a few nanometers. The setup has direct applications in ion interferometry and Aharonov-Bohm physics.

References in corpus (3)

• A Kapitza-Dirac-Talbot-Lau interferometer for highly polarizable molecules
• Ultra-sensitive surface absorption spectroscopy using sub-wavelength diameter optical fibers
• Bottle microresonator with actively stabilized evanescent coupling

Cited by in corpus (11)

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• A compact electron matter wave interferometer for sensor technology
• Effective beam separation schemes for the measurement of the electric Aharonov-Bohm effect in an ion interferometer
• Multi-frequency perturbations in matter-wave interferometry
• Vibrational dephasing in matter-wave interferometers
• Second-order correlations in single-particle interferometry
• Electron matter wave interferences at high vacuum pressures
• Information transfer by quantum matterwave modulation