Inelastic Mach-Zehnder Interferometry with Free Electrons
arXiv:2110.02468 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.147401
Abstract
We use a novel scanning electron Mach-Zehnder interferometer constructed in a conventional transmission electron microscope to perform inelastic interferometric imaging with free electrons. An electron wave function is prepared in two paths that pass on opposite sides of a gold nanoparticle, where plasmons are excited before the paths are recombined to produce electron interference. We show that the measured spectra are consistent with theoretical predictions, specifically that the interference signal formed by inelastically scattered electrons is pi out of phase with respect to that formed by elastically scattered electrons. This technique is sensitive to the phase of localized optical modes because the interference signal amounts to a substantial fraction of the transmitted electrons. We thus argue that inelastic interferometric imaging with our scanning electron Mach-Zehnder interferometer provides a new platform for controlling the transverse momentum of a free electron and studying coherent electron-matter interactions at the nanoscale.
References in corpus (11)
- Optical excitations in electron microscopy
- Light-matter interactions with photonic quasiparticles
- Electron Beam Spectroscopy for Nanophotonics
- Probing the symmetry of the potential of localized surface plasmon resonances with phase-shaped electron beams
- Shaping, imaging and controlling plasmonic interference fields at buried interfaces
- Experimental demonstration of an electrostatic orbital angular momentum sorter for electrons
- Optical polarization analogue in free electrons beams
- Spectral field mapping in plasmonic nanostructures with nanometer resolution
- Quantum decoherence by Coulomb interaction
- Controlling Multipolar Surface Plasmon Excitation through the Azimuthal Phase Structure of Electron Vortex Beams
- A Scanning 2-Grating Free Electron Mach-Zehnder Interferometer
Cited by in corpus (5)
- Toward Optimum Coupling between Free Electrons and Confined Optical Modes
- Quantum Nanophotonics with Energetic Particles:X-rays and Free Electrons
- Radiative loss of coherence in free electrons: a long-range quantum phenomenon
- Rydberg-atom manipulation through strong interaction with free electrons
- Time-symmetry and topology of the Aharonov-Bohm effect