Relativistic Stern-Gerlach Interaction in an RF Cavity

TL;DR

This paper derives a relativistic expression for the Stern-Gerlach force on spin-1/2 particles in time-varying magnetic fields and explores its application in spin state separation using a novel RF cavity setup.

Contribution

It provides a new relativistic formulation of the Stern-Gerlach force and demonstrates its use in a novel RF cavity configuration for spin separation.

Findings

Derived a general relativistic Stern-Gerlach force expression.

Proposed a new RF cavity arrangement for spin state separation.

Reconsidered the application of the interaction in a novel experimental setup.

Abstract

The general expression of the Stern-Gerlach force is deduced for a relativistic spin-1/2 particle which travels inside a time varying magnetic field. This result was obtained either by means of two Lorentz boosts or starting from Dirac's equation. Then, the utilization of this interaction for attaining the spin states separation is reconsidered in a new example using a new radio-frequency arrangement.