Unveiling the orbital angular momentum and acceleration of electron beams

Abstract

New forms of electron beams have been intensively investigated recently, including vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum, as well as Airy beams propagating along a parabolic trajectory. Their traits may be harnessed for applications in materials science, electron microscopy and interferometry, and so it is important to measure their properties with ease. Here we show how one may immediately quantify these beams' parameters without need for additional fabrication or non-standard microscopic tools. Our experimental results are backed by numerical simulations and analytic derivation.