Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Plasma wakefield acceleration is usually regarded as a classical mechanism for producing high- energy charged-particle beams. Here we show that an axisymmetric plasma wakefield can also act as a moving quantum structure that supports relativistic vortex electron states. Starting from the Dirac equation, we derive the electron spinor eigenstates with definite total angular momentum in an ideal bubble-regime wakefield. The transverse focusing field confines and quantizes the electron transverse motion into Laguerre-Gaussian vortex modes, while the longitudinal electric field acceler- ates the electron without destroying the symmetry-protected angular momenta. We further analyze the localized and off-axis vortex electron wave-packets, and non-ideal wakefield perturbations, and identify the conditions for preserving electron-vortex-state purity. These results suggest plasma wakefield as a route toward high-energy vortex electrons and extend plasma-based acceleration from classical beam dynamics to quantum-state control of relativistic particles.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Bu, Zhigang, Zhang, Lingang, Ji, Liangliang
Institution: Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2280287342, G3942867700, G8414015598
OpenAlex ID: W7204816747
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