Observation of the Kapitza-Dirac effect
Observation of the Kapitza-Dirac effect
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DOI：
10.1038/35093065
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发表时间：
2001-09-13
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Batelaan, H
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Freimund, DL;Aflatooni, K;Batelaan, H
在他们著名的1927年实验中，Davisson和Germer观察到（1）电子通过周期性材料结构的衍射，从而表明电子可以表现得像波一样。不久之后，Kapitza（2）和Dirac（3）预测电子也应该被驻波衍射。这种Kapitza-Dirac效应类似于光栅对光的衍射，但波和物质的作用相反。电子和光栅通过“有质动力势”（5）相互作用非常微弱，因此测量Kapitza-Dirac效应的尝试不得不等待激光的发展。原子中的电子与光的潜在相互作用被共振增强的想法（6）导致了原子可以被光的驻波衍射的观察结果（7）。高强度激光对电子的偏转，也是Kapitza-Dirac效应的结果，也已经得到证明（8）。但是，迄今为止还没有观察到表征波衍射的相干干涉（9），（10）。在这里，我们报告的衍射自由电子从驻波的实现的Kapitza-Dirac效应，最初提出的。
In their famous 1927 experiment, Davisson and Germer observed(1) the diffraction of electrons by a periodic material structure, so showing that electrons can behave like waves. Shortly afterwards, Kapitza(2) and Dirac(3) predicted that electrons should also be diffracted by a standing light wave(4). This Kapitza-Dirac effect is analogous to the diffraction of light by a grating, but with the roles of the wave and matter reversed. The electron and the light grating interact extremely weakly, via the 'ponderomotive potential'(5), so attempts to measure the Kapitza-Dirac effect had to wait for the development of the laser. The idea(6) that the underlying interaction with light is resonantly enhanced for electrons in an atom led to the observation(7) that atoms could be diffracted by a standing wave of light. Deflection of electrons by high-intensity laser light, which is also a consequence of the Kapitza-Dirac effect, has also been demonstrated(8). But the coherent interference that characterizes wave diffraction has not hitherto beenobserved(9),(10). Here we report the diffraction of free electrons from a standing light wave-a realization of the Kapitza-Dirac effect as originally proposed.