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Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 190404 (2007) [4 pages]

Semiclassical Dynamics of Electron Wave Packet States with Phase Vortices

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Konstantin Yu. Bliokh1,2, Yury P. Bliokh1,3, Sergey Savel’ev1,4, and Franco Nori1,5
1Frontier Research System, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
2Institute of Radio Astronomy, 4 Krasnoznamyonnaya st., Kharkov 61002, Ukraine
3Physics Department, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
4Department of Physics, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
5Department of Physics, CSCS, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA

Received 17 June 2007; published 5 November 2007

We consider semiclassical higher-order wave packet solutions of the Schrödinger equation with phase vortices. The vortex line is aligned with the propagation direction, and the wave packet carries a well-defined orbital angular momentum (OAM) l (l is the vortex strength) along its main linear momentum. The probability current coils around the momentum in such OAM states of electrons. In an electric field, these states evolve like massless particles with spin l. The magnetic-monopole Berry curvature appears in momentum space, which results in a spin-orbit-type interaction and a Berry/Magnus transverse force acting on the wave packet. This brings about the OAM Hall effect. In a magnetic field, there is a Zeeman interaction, which, can lead to more complicated dynamics.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.190404
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.190404
PACS:
03.65.Vf, 03.65.Sq, 03.75.−b, 72.10.−d