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Molecular Entanglement and Electrospinnability of Biopolymers
Published on: September 3, 2014
Entanglement and decoherence in electron microscopy
P Schattschneider1, S Löffler2
1Institute of Solid State Physics, TU Wien, Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10/E138, Wien 1040, Austria; University Service Centre for Transmission Electron Microscopy, TU Wien, Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10/E057-02, Wien 1040, Austria.
Abstract:
Interaction of the probe with the specimen in an electron microscope inevitably leads to entanglement between the probe and the scatterer. In spite of the importance of entanglement in many areas of modern physics, this subject has not been touched in the literature. Here, we develop some ideas about entanglement in electron microscopy for a number of scattering mechanisms. The relationship between entropy, density matrices, and coherence is discussed. In addition, we explore the questions "Why is Bragg scattering coherent and energy loss incoherent?" and "When does decoherence play a role?" It seems to be possible to measure decoherence on extremely short timescales of ∼10-8s. This is especially important in view of recent developments in ultrafast electron microscopy.
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