arXiv subjects

Yiqi Fang

Publications and source records attributed to Yiqi Fang.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Gouy Phase-Related Effects in the Free-Space Optical Modulation of Free Electrons

Modulating the free-electron wave function with light brings new opportunities to create attosecond electron pulse trains, to probe the quantum coherence of systems with significantly improved spatial resolution, and to generate classical and non-classical states of light with wide tunability. It is therefore crucial to efficiently generate free-electron wave functions that are suitable for these applications. In this study, we theoretically investigate an efficient free-space optical modulation of free electrons with two counter-propagating Gaussian beams. We find that the Gaussian beams' Gouy phase not only plays a crucial role in the interaction, but also enables straight-forward generation of valuable free-electron states, including comb-shape spectra with similar amplitudes, and states with high degree of coherence. We also discuss the feasibility of demonstrating these Gouy phase-related effects with chirped femto-second laser pulses. Our study establishes a theoretical foundation and physical intuition about the role of the Gouy phase. It can provide guidance to efficiently shape the free-electron wave function for a wide range of quantum applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Two-electron quantum walks can probe entanglement and decoherence in an electron microscope

Classical physics is often a good approximation for quantum systems composed of many interacting particles, although wavepacket dispersion and scattering processes continuously induce delocalization and entanglement. According to decoherence theory, an entangled ensemble can appear classical when only a subset of all particles is observed. This emergence of macroscopic phenomena from quantum interactions is, for example, relevant for phase transitions, quantum thermalization, hydrodynamics, spin liquids, or time crystals. However, entanglement and decoherence in free electrons have not yet been explored, although the electron is a fundamental elementary particle with extraordinary technological relevance. Here, we investigate the degree of coherence and entanglement in a free-space electron gas in the beam of an ultrafast electron microscope. We introduce a two-electron quantum walk that transforms the quantum state into different bases for quantum state tomography of entangled or partially entangled electron-electron pairs. We apply this novel diagnostic to study quantum effects in short pulses of hundreds of electrons under strong Coulomb correlation. We observe a high contrast interference in the electron-electron correlations but no significant signs of electron-electron entanglement which we explain by limited purity of the initial states and decoherence effects from unmeasured reservoir electrons. The ability to characterize quantum states of multiple free electrons may allow verification of electron-electron entanglement for use in fundamental studies and quantum electron microscopy.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Formation and Controlling of Optical Hopfions in High Harmonic Generation

Toroidal vortex is a kind of novel and exotic structured light with potential applications in photonic topology and quantum information. Here, we present the study on high harmonic generation (HHG) from the interaction of the intense toroidal vortices with atoms. We show that the spatial distribution of harmonic spectra reveal unique structures, which are kinds of high-order topological toroidal vortex because of the rotating of the driving fields with transverse orbital angular momentum. Then we show that, by synthesizing the toroidal vortices and optical vortices with longitudinal orbital angular momentum, it is able to generate the optical hopfions in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range, which exhibit completely different topological property compared with both the driving fields. Harnessing the spin angular momentum selection rules, we further show that one can control the topological texture and channel each harmonic into a single mode of controllable Hopf invariant.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Topologically Protected Strong-Interaction of Photonics with Free Electron

We propose a robust scheme of studying the strong interactions between free electrons and photons using topological photonics. Our study reveals that the topological corner state can be used to enhance the interaction between light and a free electron significantly. The quality factor of the topological cavity can exceed 20 000 and the corner state has a very long lifetime even after the pump pulse is off. And thus, the platform enables us to achieve a strong interaction without the need for zero delay and phase matching as in traditional photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM). This work provides the new perspective that the topological photonic structures can be utilized as a platform to shape free electron wave packets, which facilitates the control of quantum electrodynamical (QED) processes and quantum optics with free electrons in the future.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Photoelectronic mapping of spin-orbit interaction of intense light fields

The interaction between a quantum particle's spin angular momentum and its orbital angular momentum is ubiquitous in nature. In optics, the spin-orbit optical phenomenon is closely related with the light-matter interaction and has been of great interest. With the development of laser technology, the high-power and ultrafast light sources now serve as a crucial tool in revealing the behaviour of matters under extreme conditions. The comprehensive knowledge of the spin-orbit interaction for the intense light is of utmost importance. Here, we achieve the in-situ modulation and visualization of the optical orbital-to-spin conversion in strong-field regime. We show that, through manipulating the morphology of femtosecond cylindrical vector vortex pulses by a slit, the photons' orbital angular momentum can be controllably transformed into spin after focusing. By employing strong-field ionization experiment, the orbital-to-spin conversion can be imaged and measured through the photoelectron momentum distributions. Such detection and consequent control of spin-orbit dynamics of intense laser fields have implications on controlling the photoelectron holography and coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Controlling Photon Transverse Orbital Angular Momentum in High Harmonic Generation

High harmonic generation (HHG) with longitudinal optical orbital angular momentum has attracted much attention over the past decade. Here, we present the first study on the HHG with transverse orbital angular momentum driven by the spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) pulses. We show that the produced spatial resolved harmonic spectra reveal unique structures, such as the spatially spectral tilt and the fine interference patterns. We show these spatio-spectral structures originate from both the macroscopic and microscopic effect of spatiotemporal optical singularity in HHG. Employing two-color counter-spin and counter-vorticity STOV pulses, we further discuss a robust method to control the spatiotemporal topological charge and spectral structure of high-order harmonics. The conservation rule of photon transverse orbital angular momentum in HHG process is also discussed when mixing with photon spin angular momenta.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Generation and control of extreme ultraviolet free-space optical skyrmions with high harmonic generation

Optical skyrmion serves as a crucial interface between optics and topology. Recently, it has attracted great interest in linear optics. Here, we theoretically introduce a framework for the all-optical generation and control of freespace optical skyrmions in extreme ultraviolet regions via high harmonic generation. We show that by employing full Poincare beams, the created extreme ultraviolet fields manifest as skyrmionic structures in Stokes vector fields, whose skyrmion number is relevant to harmonic orders. We reveal that the generation of skyrmionics structure is attributed to spatial-resolved spin constraint of high harmonic generation. Through qualifying the geometrical parameters of full Poincaré beams, the topological texture of extreme ultraviolet fields can be completely manipulated, generating the Bloch-type, Neel-type, anti-type, and higher-order skyrmions, etc. This work promotes the investigation of topological optics in optical highly nonlinear processes, with potential applications towards ultrafast spintronics with structured light fields.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Generating optical cat states via quantum interference of multi-path free-electron-photons interactions

The novel quantum effects induced by the free-electron-photons interaction have attracted increasing interest due to their potential applications in ultrafast quantum information processing. Here, we propose a scheme to generate optical cat states based on the quantum interference of multi-path free-electron-photons interactions that take place simultaneously with strong coupling strength. By performing a projection measurement on the electron, the state of light changes significantly from a coherent state into a non-Gaussian state with either Wigner negativity or squeezing property, both possess metrological power to achieve quantum advantage. More importantly, we show that the Wigner negativity oscillates with the coupling strength, and the optical cat states are successfully generated with high fidelity at all the oscillation peaks. This oscillation reveals the quantum interference effect of the multiple quantum pathways in the interaction of the electron with photons, by that various nonclassical states of light are promising to be fast prepared and manipulated. These findings inspire further exploration of emergent quantum phenomena and advanced quantum technologies with free electrons.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Controlling Magnetic and Electric Nondipole Effects with Synthesized Two Perpendicularly Propagating Laser Fields

Nondipole effects are ubiquitous and crucial in light-matter interaction. However, they are too weak to be directly observed. In strong-field physics, motion of electrons is mainly confined in transverse plane of light fields, which suppresses the significance of nondipole effects. Here, we present a theoretical study on enhancing and controlling the nondipole effect by using the synthesized two perpendicularly propagating laser fields. We calculate the three-dimensional photoelectron momentum distributions of strong-field tunneling ionization of hydrogen atoms using the classical trajectory Monte Carlo model and show that the nondipole effects are noticeably enhanced in such laser fields due to their remarkable influences on the sub-cycle photoelectron dynamics. In particular, we reveal that the magnitudes of the magnetic and electric components of nondipole effects can be separately controlled by modulating the ellipticity and amplitude of driving laser fields. This novel scenario holds promising applications for future studies with ultrafast structured light fields.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2023

Structured air lasing of N2+

Structured light has attracted great interest in scientific and technical fields. Here, we demonstrate the first generation of structured air lasing in N2+ driven by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses. By focusing a vortex pump beam at 800 nm in N2 gas, we generate a vortex superfluorescent radiation of N2+ at 391 nm, which carries the same photon orbital angular momentum as the pump beam. With the injection of a Gaussian seed beam at 391 nm, the coherent radiation is amplified, but the vorticity is unchanged. A new physical mechanism is revealed in the vortex N2+ superfluorescent radiation: the vortex pump beam transfers the spatial spiral phase into the N2+ gain medium, and the Gaussian seed beam picks up the spatial spiral phase and is then amplified into a vortex beam. Moreover, when we employ a pump beam with a cylindrical vector mode, the Gaussian seed beam is correspondingly amplified into a cylindrical vector beam. Surprisingly, the spatial polarization state of the amplified radiation is identical to that of the vector pump beam regardless of whether the Gaussian seed beam is linearly, elliptically, or circularly polarized. Solving three-dimensional coupled wave equations, we show how a Gaussian beam becomes a cylindrical vector beam in a cylindrically symmetric gain medium. This study provides a novel approach to generating structured light via N2+ air lasing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields

Spatiotemporal sculpturing of light pulse with ultimately sophisticated structures represents the holy grail of the human everlasting pursue of ultrafast information transmission and processing as well as ultra-intense energy concentration and extraction. It also holds the key to unlock new extraordinary fundamental physical effects. Traditionally, spatiotemporal light pulses are always treated as spatiotemporally separable wave packet as solution of the Maxwell's equations. In the past decade, however, more generalized forms of spatiotemporally nonseparable solution started to emerge with growing importance for their striking physical effects. This roadmap intends to highlight the recent advances in the creation and control of increasingly complex spatiotemporally sculptured pulses, from spatiotemporally separable to complex nonseparable states, with diverse geometric and topological structures, presenting a bird's eye viewpoint on the zoology of spatiotemporal light fields and the outlook of future trends and open challenges.

physics.optics↗