Superradiant Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper explores how free electrons interact with superradiant optical systems, revealing that collective emitter coherence can enhance electron energy loss signals and enable probing ultrafast dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces schemes for realizing collective electron-emitter interactions and demonstrates how electrons can probe superradiant population dynamics.

Findings

Collective coherence enhances electron-emitter interaction signals.

Electrons can be used to probe ultrafast superradiant dynamics.

Proposed schemes enable realization of collective interactions.

Abstract

We analyze the interaction between a free electron and an ensemble of identical optical emitters. The mutual coherence and correlations between the emitters can enhance the interaction with each electron and become imprinted on its energy spectrum. We present schemes by which such collective interactions can be realized. As a possible application, we investigate free-electron interactions with superradiant systems, showing how electrons can probe the ultrafast population dynamics of superradiance.