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Updated: May 29, 2025

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Published on: June 28, 2016
Strategy for Direct Detection of Chiral Phonons with Phase-Structured Free Electrons
Marc R Bourgeois1, Andrew W Rossi1, David J Masiello1
1University of Washington, Department of Chemistry, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Abstract:
Chiral phonons possessing valley pseudoangular momentum (PAM) underlie a diversity of quantum phenomena of fundamental and applied importance, but are challenging to probe directly. We show that deficiencies of typical momentum-resolved electron energy loss measurements that make it impossible to distinguish the PAM of chiral phonons can be overcome by introducing pinwheel free electron states with well-defined PAM. Transitions between such states generate 2D periodic arrays of in-plane field vortices with polarization textures tailored to selectively couple to desired chiral mode symmetries.
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