Erwin Schrödinger Center for Quantum Science & Technology (ESQ)

A Source for Correlated Electron-Photon Pairs (CEPP)

Electron microscopy is a highly developed technology that employs the wave properties of electrons (de Broglie wavelengths ~10^-12 m) to resolve structures at an atomic level. Until recently, entanglement between the electron and the sample as well as between individual electrons was considered to be inaccessible due to various fast decoherence channels. We propose to utilize the Cherenkov effect ─ which is generated by uniformly moving charged particles (e.g. electrons) with velocities exceeding the speed of light in a nearby dielectric medium ─ in order to create correlated electron-photon pairs.  Within this project we envision to perform first proof of principle experiments on the single electron-photon level to bridge the two very successful fields of electron microscopy and quantum optics.

The ESQ Discovery grant allows us to explore unconventional but very promising ideas. It is well invested seed money for the fascinating quantum technology of tomorrow.