Related papers: Decoherence of electron beams by electromagnetic f…
The ability to trap and guide coherent electrons is gaining importance in fundamental as well as in applied physics. In this regard novel quantum devices are currently developed that may operate under low vacuum conditions. Here we study…
We point out that even at the absolute zero of temperature environmental decoherence limits the destructive interference between time-reversed paths for an electron in a disordered metal, and thus causes the leading (`weak localization')…
Tokamak disruptions are associated with breaking magnetic surfaces, which makes magnetic field lines chaotic in large regions of the plasma. The enforcement of quasi-neutrality in a region of chaotic field lines requires an electric…
We report a novel phenomenon that the universal conductance fluctuations (UCF) can be suppressed by a small electric field E. The experiment has been carried out on single crystals of Si doped heavily with P and B beyond the critical…
If one analyzes the effects of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations upon an electron interference pattern in an approximation in which the electrons follow classical trajectories, an ultraviolet divergence results. It is shown that this…
In coherent control, electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations usually cause coherence loss through irreversible spontaneous emission. However, since the dissipation via emission is essentially due to correlation of the fluctuations, when…
We calculate the dephasing rate of an electron state in a pinched quantum dot, due to Coulomb interactions between the electron in the dot and electrons in a nearby voltage biased ballistic nanostructure. The dephasing is caused by…
High contrast matter-wave interferometry is essential in various fundamental quantum mechanical experiments as well as for technical applications. Thereby, contrast and sensitivity are typically reduced by decoherence and dephasing effects.…
The effect of time-varying electromagnetic fields on electron coherence is investigated. A sinusoidal electromagnetic field produces a time varying Aharonov-Bohm phase. In a measurement of the interference pattern which averages over this…
Electronic coherence is of utmost importance for the access and control of quantum-mechanical solid-state properties. Using a purely electronic observable, the photocurrent, we measure an electronic coherence time of 22 +/- 4 fs in…
An electron beam traversing a structured plasmonic field is shown to undergo diffraction with characteristic angular patterns of both elastic and inelastic outgoing electron components. In particular, a plasmonic {\it grating} (e.g., a…
On this work, we consider a particle moving in front of a dielectric plate, and study two of the most relevant effects of the vacuum field fluctuations: the dissipation, and the decoherence of the particle's internal degrees of freedom. We…
Any quantum system interacting with a complex environment undergoes decoherence. Empty space is filled with vacuum energy due to matter fields in their ground state and represents an underlying environment that any quantum particle has to…
Controlled dephasing of electrons, via 'which path' detection, involves, in general, coupling a coherent system to a current driven noise source. However, here, we present a case in which a nearly isolated electron puddle at thermal…
The processes of radiation damping and decoherence in Quantum Electrodynamics are studied from an open system's point of view. Employing functional techniques of field theory, the degrees of freedom of the radiation field are eliminated to…
We review different attempts to show the decoherence process in double-slit-like experiments both for charged particles (electrons) and neutral particles with permanent dipole moments. Interference is studied when electrons or atomic…
The structure and thermodynamic state of a system changes under the influence of external electric fields. Neutral systems are characterized by their dielectric constant epsilon, while charged ones also by their charge distribution. In this…
Studies of weak localization by scattering from vapor atoms for electrons on a liquid helium surface are reported. There are three contributions to the dephasing time. Dephasing by the motion of vapor atoms perpendicular to the surface is…
We develop a novel eikonal expansion for the Cooperon to study the effect of space- and time-dependent electric fields on the dephasing rate of disordered conductors. For randomly fluctuating fields with arbitrary covariance we derive a…
We study the effects of the electromagnetic vacuum on the motion of a nonrelativistic electron. First, we derive the equation of motion for the expectation value of the electron's position operator. We show how this equation has the same…