Programming Coherent and Quantum Light with a Free-Electron Wavepacket
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Zhu, Songyu Zeng, Yushan Pan, Chenhao Pan, Yiming Tian, Ye Li, Ruxin |
| author_facet | Zhu, Songyu Zeng, Yushan Pan, Chenhao Pan, Yiming Tian, Ye Li, Ruxin |
| contents | The pursuit of compact, programmable light sources with high coherence and spectral purity hinges on establishing a precise set of phase relationships in light-matter interactions. Here, we demonstrate that the quadratic dispersion of freely propagating electron wavepacket serves as a programmable quantum medium. Prepared in a coherent momentum-state ladder via a single laser interaction, the electron subsequently undergoes deterministic phase evolution during free propagation-an intrinsic process that compiles its quantum state into two distinct emission channels. This mechanism, quantified by a quantum bunching factor, enables: (i) Talbot-resonant bunching, where the electron density self-structures into sub-cycle combs with tunable harmonic selectivity, and (ii) coherent phase transfer of the programmed quadratic phase to light, generating nonclassical photon states such as multi-component Schrodinger cat states via measurement-conditioned interaction. This quadratic-phase programming establishes a versatile platform for on-demand quantum state synthesis, bridging beam engineering with electron wavefunction shaping for compact quantum light sources, coherent radiation control, and scalable quantum information processing. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21246 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Programming Coherent and Quantum Light with a Free-Electron Wavepacket Zhu, Songyu Zeng, Yushan Pan, Chenhao Pan, Yiming Tian, Ye Li, Ruxin Optics The pursuit of compact, programmable light sources with high coherence and spectral purity hinges on establishing a precise set of phase relationships in light-matter interactions. Here, we demonstrate that the quadratic dispersion of freely propagating electron wavepacket serves as a programmable quantum medium. Prepared in a coherent momentum-state ladder via a single laser interaction, the electron subsequently undergoes deterministic phase evolution during free propagation-an intrinsic process that compiles its quantum state into two distinct emission channels. This mechanism, quantified by a quantum bunching factor, enables: (i) Talbot-resonant bunching, where the electron density self-structures into sub-cycle combs with tunable harmonic selectivity, and (ii) coherent phase transfer of the programmed quadratic phase to light, generating nonclassical photon states such as multi-component Schrodinger cat states via measurement-conditioned interaction. This quadratic-phase programming establishes a versatile platform for on-demand quantum state synthesis, bridging beam engineering with electron wavefunction shaping for compact quantum light sources, coherent radiation control, and scalable quantum information processing. |
| title | Programming Coherent and Quantum Light with a Free-Electron Wavepacket |
| topic | Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21246 |