Quantum decoherence by Coulomb interaction
Quantum decoherence by Coulomb interaction
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DOI：
10.1088/1367-2630/ab8efc
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发表时间：
2020-06-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Stibor, A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kerker, N.;Roepke, R.;Stibor, A.
现代量子器件在通信、计量和显微等领域的性能依赖于量子-经典相互作用，而量子-经典相互作用一般用退相干理论来描述。尽管在量子电子学中与长相干时间高度相关，但库仑力介导的退相干机制尚未得到很好的理解，并且存在几种相互竞争的理论模型。在这里，我们提出了一个实验研究的库仑诱导的消相干的自由电子在叠加态的双棱镜电子干涉仪接近半导体和金属表面。通过在不同的光束路径分离，表面距离和电导率的对比度损失确定的消相干。为了澄清目前的文献讨论，四个理论模型进行了比较，我们的数据。我们可以排除其中的三个，并与基于宏观量子电动力学的理论取得了很好的一致。研究结果将有助于在新型量子仪器的设计中确定和最小化特定的退相干通道。
The performance of modern quantum devices in communication, metrology or microscopy relies on the quantum-classical interaction which is generally described by the theory of decoherence. Despite the high relevance for long coherence times in quantum electronics, decoherence mechanisms mediated by the Coulomb force are not well understood yet and several competing theoretical models exist. Here, we present an experimental study of the Coulomb-induced decoherence of free electrons in a superposition state in a biprism electron interferometer close to a semiconducting and metallic surface. The decoherence was determined through a contrast loss at different beam path separations, surface distances and conductibilities. To clarify the current literature discussion, four theoretical models were compared to our data. We could rule out three of them and got good agreement with a theory based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics. The results will enable the determination and minimization of specific decoherence channels in the design of novel quantum instruments.