2012/01/29 by Ebrahim Karimi, Lorenzo Marrucci, Vincenzo Grillo +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #physics.acc-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.108.044801
published as Physical Review Letters, 108, 044801 (2012) · 9 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2012/01/29 · arxiv updated 2012/01/31
We propose the design of a space-variant Wien filter for electron beams that induces a spin half-turn and converts the corresponding spin angular momentum variation into orbital angular momentum of the beam itself by exploiting a geometrical phase arising in the spin manipulation. When applied to a spatially coherent input spin-polarized electron beam, such a device can generate an electron vortex beam, carrying orbital angular momentum. When applied to an unpolarized input beam, the proposed device, in combination with a suitable diffraction element, can act as a very effective spin-polarization filter. The same approach can also be applied to neutron or atom beams.