Imprinting the quantum statistics of photons on free electrons

• DOI: 10.1126/science.abj7128
• Publication Date: 2021-08-26T19:15:11Z
• Authors: Raphael Dahan; Alexey Gorlach; Urs Haeusler; Aviv Karnieli; Ori Eyal; Peyman Yousefi; Mordechai Segev; Ady Arie; Gadi Eisenstein; Peter Hommelhoff; Ido Kaminer
• Keywords: Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph); 0301 basic medicine; Quantum Physics; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; FOS: Physical sciences; Physics - Accelerator Physics; Quantum Physics (quant-ph); 7. Clean energy; Physics - Optics; Optics (physics.optics)

Electrons see the quantum nature of light

We know that light is both a wave and a particle, and this duality arises from the classical and quantum nature of electromagnetic excitations. Dahan et al . observed that all experiments to date in which light interacts with free electrons have been described with light considered as a wave (see the Perspective by Carbone). The authors present experimental evidence revealing the quantum nature of the interaction between photons and free electrons. They combine an ultrafast transmission electron microscope with a silicon-photonic nanostructure that confines and strengthens the interaction between the light and the electrons. The “quantum” statistics of the photons are imprints onto the propagating electrons and are seen directly in their energy spectrum. —ISO