Relativistic electron wave packets carrying angular momentum

Abstract

There are important differences between the nonrelativistic and relativistic description of electron beams. The orbital angular momentum quantum number cannot be used to specify the wave functions in the relativistic case. In this Letter we introduce analytic solutions of the Dirac equation in the form of exponential wave packets and we argue that they properly describe relativistic electron beams carrying angular momentum.

Editors' Suggestion Commented on in Viewpoint

References in corpus (4)

• Semiclassical Dynamics of Electron Wave Packet States with Phase Vortices
• Electron vortex beams in a magnetic field: A new twist on Landau levels and Aharonov-Bohm states
• Nondestructive Measurement of Orbital Angular Momentum for an Electron Beam
• Exponential beams of electromagnetic radiation

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Manipulating twisted electron beams
• Position, spin and orbital angular momentum of a relativistic electron
• Spin in Compton scattering with pronounced polarization dynamics