Electron-spin dynamics in elliptically polarized light waves
arXiv:1409.2647 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.90.052101
Abstract
We investigate the coupling of the spin angular momentum of light beams with elliptical polarization to the spin degree of freedom of free electrons. It is shown that this coupling, which is of similar origin as the well-known spin-orbit coupling, can lead to spin precession. The spin-precession frequency is proportional to the product of the laser-field's intensity and its spin density. The electron-spin dynamics is analyzed by employing exact numerical methods as well as time-dependent perturbation theory based on the fully relativistic Dirac equation and on the nonrelativistic Pauli equation that is amended by a relativistic correction that accounts for the light's spin density.
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- Signatures of relativistic spin-light coupling in ultrafast magneto-optical pump-probe experiments
- Spin in Compton scattering with pronounced polarization dynamics
- Electron spin filter and polarizer in a standing light wave
- Spin dynamics in Kapitza-Dirac scattering of electrons from bichromatic laser fields
- Spin-dependent two-photon Bragg scattering in the Kapitza-Dirac effect
- Dynamics of the relativistic electron spin in an electromagnetic field
- Beam focus and longitudinal polarization influence on spin dynamics in the Kapitza-Dirac effect
- Parameter space investigation for spin-dependent electron diffraction in the Kapitza-Dirac effect
- Spin dynamics in relativistic light-matter interaction