Superkick Effect in Vortex Particle Scattering

Abstract

Vortex states of photons or electrons are a novel and promising experimental tool across atomic, nuclear, and particle physics. Various experimental schemes to generate high-energy vortex particles have been proposed. However, diagnosing the characteristics of vortex states at high energies remains a significant challenge, as traditional low-energy detection schemes become impractical for high-energy vortex particles due to their extremely short de Broglie wavelength. We recently proposed a novel experimental detection scheme based on a mechanism called "superkick" that is free from many drawbacks of the traditional methods and can reveal the vortex phase characteristics. In this paper, we present a complete theoretical framework for calculating the superkick effect in elastic electron scattering and systematically investigate the impact of various factors on its visibility. In particular, we argue that the vortex phase can be identified either by detecting the two scattered electrons in coincidence or by analyzing the characteristic azimuthal asymmetry in individual final particles.