SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

D. V. Grosman

Publications and source records attributed to D. V. Grosman.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Radiation of breathing vortex electron packets in magnetic field

When a vortex electron with an orbital angular momentum (OAM) enters a magnetic field, its quantum state is described with a nonstationary Laguerre-Gaussian (NSLG) state rather than with a stationary Landau state. A key feature of these NSLG states is oscillations of the electron wave packet's root-mean-square (r.m.s.) radius, similar to betatron oscillations. Classically, such an oscillating charge distribution is expected to emit photons. This raises a critical question: does this radiation carry away OAM, leading to a loss of the electron's vorticity? To investigate this, we solve Maxwell's equations using the charge and current densities derived from an electron in the NSLG state. We calculate the total radiated power and the angular momentum of the emitted field, quantifying the rate at which a vortex electron loses its energy and OAM while propagating in a longitudinal magnetic field. We find both the radiated power and the angular momentum losses to be negligible indicating that linear accelerators (linacs) appear to be a prominent tool for maintaining vorticity of relativistic vortex electrons and other charged particles, at least in the quasi-classical approximation.

quant-ph

Photon emission by vortex particles accelerated in a linac

We study the photon emission by charged spinless particles with phase vortices and an orbital angular momentum (OAM) projection in longitudinal electric and magnetic fields within the scalar QED. A realistic wave packet of an electron or ion accelerated by a radio-frequency wave locally feels a constant and spatially homogeneous field, which allows us to develop an effective model for losing the angular momentum of the vortex particle due to photon emission. For the fields typical for accelerator facilities, we find that an effective lifetime of the vortex state greatly exceeds the acceleration time. This proves that the acceleration of vortex electrons, ions, muons, and so forth to relativistic energies is possible in conventional linacs, as well as in the wake-field accelerators with higher field gradients, the OAM losses due to the photon emission are mostly negligible, and that the vortex quantum state is highly robust against these losses.

hep-ph

Phase-space description of photon emission

Interactions between charged particles and light occur in real space and time, yet quantum field theory usually describes them in momentum space. Whereas this approach is well suited for calculating emission probabilities and cross sections, it is insensitive to spatial and temporal phenomena such as, for instance, radiation formation, quantum coherence, and wave packet spreading. These effects are becoming increasingly important for experiments involving electrons, photons, atoms, and ions, particularly with the advent of attosecond spectroscopy and metrology. Here, we propose a general method for describing the emission of photons in phase space via a Wigner function. Several effects for Cherenkov radiation are predicted, absent in classical realm or in quantum theory in momentum space, such as a finite spreading time of the photon, finite duration of the flash and a quantum shift of the photon arrival time. The photon spreading time turns out to be negative near the Cherenkov angle, the flash duration is defined by the electron packet size, and the temporal shift can be both positive and negative. The characteristic time scales of these effects lie in the atto- and femtosecond ranges, thereby illustrating atomic origins of these macroscopic phenomena. The near-field distribution of the photon field resembles the electron packet shape, thus making ``snapshots'' of the emitter wave function. Our approach can easily be generalized to the other types of radiation and extended to scattering, decay, and annihilation processes, bringing tomographic methods of quantum optics to particle physics.

quant-ph

Generating entangled pairs of vortex photons via induced emission

Pairs of entangled vortex photons can promise new prospects of application in quantum computing and cryptography. We investigate the possibility of generating such states via two-level atom emission induced by a single photon wave packet with a definite total angular momentum (TAM). The entangled pair produced in this process possesses well-defined mean TAM with the TAM variation being much smaller than $\hbar$. On top of that, the variation exponentially decreases with the increase in TAM of the incident photon. Our model allows one to track the time evolution of the state of the entangled pair. An experimentally feasible scenario is assumed, in which the incident photon interacts with a spatially confined atomic target. We conclude that induced emission can be used as a source of entangled vortex photons with applications in atomic physics experiments, quantum optics, and quantum information sciences.

quant-ph

Nonstationary Laguerre-Gaussian states in magnetic field

The Landau states of electrons with orbital angular momentum in magnetic fields are important in the quantum theories of metals and of synchrotron radiation at storage rings, in relativistic astrophysics of neutron stars, and in many other areas. In realistic scenarios, electrons are often born inside the field or injected from a field-free region, requiring nonstationary quantum states to account for boundary or initial conditions. This study presents nonstationary Laguerre-Gaussian (NSLG) states in a longitudinal magnetic field, characterizing vortex electrons after their transfer from vacuum to the field. Comparisons with Landau states and calculations of observables such as mean energy and r.m.s. radius show that the r.m.s. radius of the electron packet in the NSLG state oscillates in time around a significantly larger value than that of the Landau state. This quantum effect of oscillations is due to boundary conditions and can potentially be observed in various problems, particularly when using magnetic lenses of electron microscopes and linear accelerators. Analogies are drawn between a quantum wave packet and a classical beam of many particles in phase space, including the calculation of mean emittance of the NSLG state as a measure of their quantum nature.

quant-ph

Absorption of a twisted photon by an electron in strong magnetic field

The work investigates absorption of a twisted photon, which possesses quantized total angular momentum (TAM), by a relativistic electron with the Lorentz factor $γ\sim 1-10$ in a strong magnetic field up to the Schwinger limit, $H_c = 4.4\cdot 10^{13}$ G. We examine the absorption cross sections and their dependence on the parameters of the incident photon and the initial Landau electron. It is found that total absorption cross sections decrease as angular momentum of the incident photon increases and increase as angular momentum of the initial electron grows. The process is also compared across different magnetic field strengths, and the contribution of various electron spin transitions to total absorption cross section is analyzed. We also find that the processes without an electron spin flip dominate and, on top of that, an asymmetry in the ``spin-down'' $\rightarrow$ ``spin-up'' and the ``spin-up'' $\rightarrow$ ``spin-down'' transitions is observed. Specifically, the cross sections for the ``spin-down'' $\rightarrow$ ``spin-up'' transition are larger, which can be interpreted as an analogy of the Sokolov-Ternov effect present for photon emission. Finally, the cross sections are found to be almost constant as the transverse momentum of the photon varies from $0.1$ eV to $100$ keV. Our findings can help to improve the understanding of the QED processes in critical fields, typical for astrophysical environments, e.g. magnetospheres of neutron stars.

hep-ph

Transmission of vortex electrons through a solenoid

We argue that it is generally nonstationary Laguerre-Gaussian states (NSLG) rather than the Landau ones that appropriately describe electrons with orbital angular momentum both in their dynamics at a hard-edge boundary between a solenoid and vacuum and inside the magnetic field. It is shown that the r.m.s. radius of the NSLG state oscillates in time and its period-averaged value can significantly exceed the r.m.s. radius of the Landau state, even far from the boundary. We propose to study the unconventional features of quantum dynamics inside a solenoid in several experimental scenarios with vortex electrons described by the NSLG states. Relevance for processes in scanning and transmission electron microscopes, as well as for particle accelerators with relativistic beams is emphasized.

quant-ph

Evolution of the accelerated charged vortex particle in an inhomogeneous magnetic lens

We present a detailed analysis of the capture and acceleration of a non-relativistic charged vortex particle (electron, positron, proton, etc.) with an orbital angular momentum in a field of an axisymmetric electromagnetic lens, typical for a linear accelerator. We account for the acceleration as well as for the inhomogeneity of both electric and magnetic fields that may arise from some real-life imperfections. We establish conditions when the wave packet can be captured and successfully transported through the lens. We describe the transition process and explain how a free Laguerre-Gaussian packet could be captured into the Landau state of the lens preserving its structure for all moments in time. Several representative examples are provided to illustrate developed formalism.

quant-ph