Phase-Programmable Free Electron Quantum States in Synthetic Momentum Space
Abstract
Light-electron interactions generate synthetic momentum-space dynamics that can be used to engineer free electron quantum states. Here we develop coherent control protocols in which the optical phase acts as the controllable hopping phase of a Floquet-Bloch momentum lattice. Pontryagin optimization designs phase-only waveforms that prepare selected momentum populations and coherent few-sideband superpositions with programmable relative phases. In a complementary Bragg regime protocol, dynamical phase matching selectively couples neighboring sidebands and enables deterministic sequential state synthesis. Full wave-packet simulations based on the minimal-coupling Hamiltonian identify the tolerance window set by phase noise, detuning, and finite momentum spread. The two protocols expose a speed-selectivity tradeoff between ultrafast multilevel interference control and slower resonant engineering, establishing programmable free electron sidebands as a platform for ultrafast quantum state synthesis.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.07445,
title = {Phase-Programmable Free Electron Quantum States in Synthetic Momentum Space},
author = {Alatz Alvarez-Ahedo and Miriam Lazo and Tian-Niu Xu and Yiming Pan and Mikel Sanz and Yongcheng Ding},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.07445},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
13 pages, 6 figures