Control of quantum electrodynamical processes by shaping electron wavepackets
Name
s41467-021-21367-1.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
60.58 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
59dbe5ce268a4dae3decaa398106b5ee
Author(s)
Wong, Liang Jie
Rivera, Nicholas
Murdia, Chitraang
Christensen, Thomas
Joannopoulos, John D
Soljačić, Marin
Kaminer, Ido
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Wong, Liang Jie, Rivera, Nicholas, Murdia, Chitraang, Christensen, Thomas, Joannopoulos, John D et al. 2021. "Control of quantum electrodynamical processes by shaping electron wavepackets." Nature Communications, 12 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Fundamental quantum electrodynamical (QED) processes, such as spontaneous emission and electron-photon scattering, encompass phenomena that underlie much of modern science and technology. Conventionally, calculations in QED and other field theories treat incoming particles as single-momentum states, omitting the possibility that coherent superposition states, i.e., shaped wavepackets, can alter fundamental scattering processes. Here, we show that free electron waveshaping can be used to design interferences between two or more pathways in a QED process, enabling precise control over the rate of that process. As an example, we show that free electron waveshaping modifies both spatial and spectral characteristics of bremsstrahlung emission, leading for instance to enhancements in directionality and monochromaticity. The ability to tailor general QED processes opens up additional avenues of control in phenomena ranging from optical excitation (e.g., plasmon and phonon emission) in electron microscopy to free electron lasing in the quantum regime.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/S41467-021-21367-1
