Unambiguous Detection of High-Energy Vortex States via the Superkick Effect

Vortex states of photons, electrons, and other particles are freely propagating wave packets with helicoidal wave fronts winding around the axis of a phase vortex. A particle prepared in a vortex state carries a nonzero orbital angular momentum projection on the propagation direction, a quantum number that has never been exploited in experimental particle and nuclear physics. Low-energy vortex photons, electrons, neutrons, and helium atoms have been demonstrated in experiment and found numerous applications, and there exist proposals of boosting them to higher energies. However, verification that a high-energy particle is indeed in a vortex state will be a major challenge, since the low energy techniques become impractical at higher energies. Here, we propose a new diagnostic method based on the so-called superkick effect, which can unambiguously detect the presence of a phase vortex. A proof-of-principle experiment with vortex electrons can be done with existing technology, and its realization will also constitute the first observation of the superkick effect.