Helical Phase Structure of Radiation from an Electron in Circular Motion

We theoretically show that a single free electron in circular motion radiates an electromagnetic wave possessing helical phase structure, which is closely related to orbital angular momentum carried by it. We experimentally demonstrate it by interference and double-slit diffraction experiments on ra...

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Published inScientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 6130 - 8
Main Authors Katoh, M., Fujimoto, M., Mirian, N. S., Konomi, T., Taira, Y., Kaneyasu, T., Hosaka, M., Yamamoto, N., Mochihashi, A., Takashima, Y., Kuroda, K., Miyamoto, A., Miyamoto, K., Sasaki, S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.07.2017
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
639/766/1960
639/766/34
639/766/400
Electric fields
Electromagnetic radiation
Gamma rays
Humanities and Social Sciences
Laboratories
Magnetic fields
multidisciplinary
Photons
Radiation
Radio waves
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Velocity
Vortices
Wavelengths
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Summary:We theoretically show that a single free electron in circular motion radiates an electromagnetic wave possessing helical phase structure, which is closely related to orbital angular momentum carried by it. We experimentally demonstrate it by interference and double-slit diffraction experiments on radiation from relativistic electrons in spiral motion. Our results indicate that photons carrying orbital angular momentum should be created naturally by cyclotron/synchrotron radiations or Compton scatterings in various situations in cosmic space. We propose promising laboratory vortex photon sources in various wavelengths ranging from radio wave to gamma-rays.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-06442-2