Unambiguous detection of high energy vortex states via the superkick effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel diagnostic method using the superkick effect to unambiguously detect high energy vortex states of particles, overcoming limitations of low-energy techniques and enabling experimental verification.

Contribution

The paper proposes the superkick effect as a new method to identify high energy vortex states, with a feasible proof-of-principle experiment using current technology.

Findings

Superkick effect can unambiguously detect vortex states.

Proof-of-principle experiment with vortex electrons is feasible.

First observation of the superkick effect is possible.

Abstract

Vortex states of photons, electrons, and other particles are freely propagating wave packets with helicoidal wave fronts winding around the axis of a phase vortex. A particle prepared in a vortex state carries a non-zero orbital angular momentum projection on the propagation direction, a quantum number that has never been exploited in experimental particle and nuclear physics. Low-energy vortex photons, electrons, neutrons, and helium atoms have been demonstrated in experiment and found numerous applications, and there exist proposals of boosting them to higher energies. However, verification that a high energy particle is indeed in a vortex state will be a major challenge, since the low energy techniques become impractical at higher energies. Here, we propose a new diagnostic method based of the so-called superkick effect, which can unambiguously detect the presence of a phase vortex. A proof-of-principle experiment with vortex electrons can be done with existing technology, and its realization will also constitute the first observation of the superkick effect.