Correlation in a coherent electron beam

Abstract

Correlations between successive detections in beams of free electrons are studied with a transmission electron microscope. For incoherent illumination of the detectors, a certain random coincidence probability is observed, indicative for uncorrelated arrival times of the electrons. When the illumination is changed from incoherent to coherent, a reduction of the random coincidence probability is observed, indicative for antibunching in the arrival times of the electrons. However, the amount of reduction is larger than the theoretically expected value calculated from the Pauli principle, forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. For a certain coherent illumination of the detectors, where we use magnetic lenses in electron microscopes for magnifications of the coherence length, we find an enhanced coincidence probability, indicative for bunching in the arrival times of the electrons. This originates from correlations in beams of free electrons due to Coulomb interactions.