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Broadband coupling of fast electrons to high-Q whispering-gallery mode resonators

Optics 2021-03-25 v1 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Quantum Physics

Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy is an excellent experimental tool to study the interaction of free electrons with nanoscale light fields. However, up to now, applying electron microscopy to quantum optical investigations was hampered by the lack of experimental platforms which allow a strong coupling between fast electrons and high-quality resonators. Here, as a first step, we demonstrate the broad-band excitation of optical whispering-gallery modes in silica microresonators by fast electrons. In the emitted coherent cathodoluminescence spectrum, a comb of equidistant peaks is observed, resulting in cavity quality factors larger than 700. These results enable the study of quantum optical phenomena in electron microscopy with potential applications in quantum electron-light metrology.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2103.13276,
  title  = {Broadband coupling of fast electrons to high-Q whispering-gallery mode resonators},
  author = {Niklas Müller and Vincent Hock and Holger Koch and Nora Bach and Christopher Rathje and Sascha Schäfer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.13276},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

19 pages, 4 figures, 52 references