Efficient two-port electron beam splitter via a quantum interaction-free measurement

Efficient two-port electron beam splitter via a quantum interaction-free measurement

Yang, Yujia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Kim, Chung Soo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Hobbs, Richard G. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Kruit, P. (TU Delft ImPhys/Charged Particle Optics)
Berggren, Karl K. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

2018

Semitransparent mirrors are standard elements in light optics for splitting light beams or creating two versions of the same image. Such mirrors do not exist in electron optics, although they could be beneficial in existing techniques such as electron interferometry and holography and could enable alternative electron imaging and spectroscopy techniques. We propose a design for an electron beam splitter using the concept of quantum interaction-free measurement (IFM). The design combines an electron resonator with a weak phase grating. Fast switching gates allow electrons to enter and exit the resonator. While in the resonator, the phase grating transfers intensity from the direct beam into one of the weakly diffracted beams at each pass. To make the beam splitter an efficient two-port splitter, the intensity in all other diffracted beams is blocked by an aperture. The IFM principle minimizes the loss of total intensity by this aperture. We use a scattering matrix method to analyze the performance of the beam splitter, including the effects of inelastic scattering in the phase grating. This design can be generalized to beam splitters for not only electrons, but also photons, neutrons, atoms, and other quantum mechanical systems.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:eac86bd0-26de-4a64-9599-fcc7e0ace7a2

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.98.043621

2469-9926

Physical Review A: covering atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum information, 98 (4)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 Yujia Yang, Chung Soo Kim, Richard G. Hobbs, P. Kruit, Karl K. Berggren