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- Title
Generation of electron beams carrying orbital angular momentum.
- Authors
Uchida, Masaya; Tonomura, Akira
- Abstract
All forms of waves can contain phase singularities. In the case of optical waves, a light beam with a phase singularity carries orbital angular momentum, and such beams have found a range of applications in optical manipulation, quantum information and astronomy. Here we report the generation of an electron beam with a phase singularity propagating in free space, which we achieve by passing a plane electron wave through a spiral phase plate constructed naturally from a stack of graphite thin films. The interference pattern between the final beam and a plane electron wave in a transmission electron microscope shows the ‘Y’-like defect pattern characteristic of a beam carrying a phase singularity with a topological charge equal to one. This fundamentally new electron degree of freedom could find application in a number of research areas, as is the case for polarized electron beams.
- Subjects
ELECTRON beams; WAVE mechanics; ANGULAR momentum (Mechanics); THIN films; FREE space optical interconnects; QUANTUM theory; TOPOLOGY; TRANSMISSION electron microscopy; ELECTRONS; DEGREES of freedom
- Publication
Nature, 2010, Vol 464, Issue 7289, p737
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature08904