Quantum Wavefront Shaping with a 48-element Programmable Phase Plate for Electrons

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 48-element programmable phase plate for electrons, enabling wavefront shaping in electron microscopy, which enhances control over electron quantum states with high phase sensitivity and resolution.

Contribution

It demonstrates the fabrication and characterization of a novel electron phase plate, adapting wavefront shaping techniques from optics to electron microscopy for the first time.

Findings

Phase sensitivity of 0.075 rad/mV at 300kV

Phase resolution of approximately 3×10^{-3}π

Successful simulation and experimental validation

Abstract

We present a 48-element programmable phase plate for coherent electron waves produced by a combination of photolithography and focused ion beam. This brings the highly successful concept of wavefront shaping from light optics into the realm of electron optics and provides an important new degree of freedom to prepare electron quantum states. The phase plate chip is mounted on an aperture rod placed in the C2 plane of a transmission electron microscope operating in the 100-300 kV range. The phase plate's behavior is characterized by a Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, showing a phase sensitivity of 0.075rad/mV at 300kV, with a phase resolution of approximately $3\cdot10^{-3}\pi$. In addition, we provide a brief overview of possible use cases and support it with both simulated and experimental results.