Coulomb Sensing of Single Ballistic Electrons

J D Fletcher1, W Park2,3, P See1

  • 1National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, United Kingdom.

Physical Review Letters
|August 27, 2025
PubMed
Abstract

Related Concept Videos

The Uncertainty Principle04:08

The Uncertainty Principle

Werner Heisenberg considered the limits of how accurately one can measure properties of an electron or other microscopic particles. He determined that there is a fundamental limit to how accurately one can measure both a particle’s position and its momentum simultaneously. The more accurate the measurement of the momentum of a particle is known, the less accurate the position at that time is known and vice versa. This is what is now called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. He...
24.2K
Coulomb's Law01:30

Coulomb's Law

Experiments with electric charges have shown that if two objects each have an electric charge, they exert an electric force on each other. The magnitude of the force is linearly proportional to the net charge on each object and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The direction of the force vector is along the imaginary line joining the two objects and is dictated by the signs of the charges involved.
Newton's third law applies to the Coulomb force — the...
10.0K
Coulometry: Overview01:00

Coulometry: Overview

Coulometry is one of the rapid, most accurate, and precise analytical techniques that determine the quantity of an analyte by measuring the electrical charge needed for its complete electrolysis without using any analytical standards. The total charge passed during electrolysis correlates with the analyte amount by Faraday's laws of electrolysis. For accurate coulometric measurements, a charge equal to Faraday's constant multiplied by the number of electrons involved in the relevant...
1.6K
The de Broglie Wavelength02:32

The de Broglie Wavelength

In the macroscopic world, objects that are large enough to be seen by the naked eye follow the rules of classical physics. A billiard ball moving on a table will behave like a particle; it will continue traveling in a straight line unless it collides with another ball, or it is acted on by some other force, such as friction. The ball has a well-defined position and velocity or well-defined momentum, p = mv, which is defined by mass m and velocity v at any given moment. This is the typical...
26.3K
Magnetic Moment of an Electron01:23

Magnetic Moment of an Electron

Electrons revolving around a nucleus are analogous to a circular current carrying loop. This current produces a magnetic dipole moment proportional to the electron's orbital angular momentum. Since the orbital angular momentum is quantized in terms of the reduced Planck's constant, the dipole moment is quantized in the Bohr Magneton. The value of the Bohr magneton is 9.27 x 10-24 Am2. Electrons also have an intrinsic spin angular momentum, and the associated spin magnetic moment is...
1.7K
Coulomb's Law and The Principle of Superposition01:15

Coulomb's Law and The Principle of Superposition

Coulomb's Law describes the force experienced by two point charges under each other's presence. But what if there are more than two charges? For example, if there is a third charge, does it experience a force that is a simple combination of the individual forces due to the first two charges? Can it be described mathematically?
The Principle of Superposition answers the question. Yes, Coulomb's Law applies to each pair of charges, and the net force on each charge is the vector sum of...
9.7K