arXiv subjects

Alejandro Reyes-Coronado

Publications and source records attributed to Alejandro Reyes-Coronado.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spectral density of angular momentum transfer from a swift electron to a large spherical nanoparticle

Swift electrons in scanning transmission electron microscopy transfer both linear and angular momentum to nanoparticles, underlying electron-beam-driven nanoscale manipulation ("electron tweezers"). Prior theory relied either on the small-particle (dipolar) approximation, valid only well below experimentally relevant sizes, or on frequency-integrated multipolar calculations that leave the spectral structure of the interaction unresolved. Here we present a fully retarded, causal, multipole-converged electrodynamical methodology for the angular momentum transfer from a swift electron to an isolated spherical nanoparticle, based on a closed-surface Maxwell stress tensor formulation whose angular integrals reduce analytically to a small, material- and trajectory-independent set of irreducible integrals over associated Legendre functions. This lowers the cost of the double multipolar sum, enabling convergence up to l_max=51 for nanoparticles as large as a=50 nm, nearly four times the order of the largest previous calculation at this size and previously unreached for an optically complex, interband-dominated material. Applied to aluminum and gold nanoparticles up to a=50 nm, the method resolves the transfer spectral density across the full frequency domain, showing it is set by interference between the electron field and the field scattered by the nanoparticle, which dominates the scattered-scattered contribution at essentially every frequency; the electric contribution dominates at moderate speeds, but the magnetic contribution, of the same sign, grows steadily in relative weight with electron speed, from a few percent of the total at v = 0.5c to between a quarter and a half of it at v = 0.95c for trajectories passing close to the nanoparticle surface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Electrodynamics of swift-electron momentum transfer to a large spherical nanoparticle

Swift electrons from highly focused beams produced in aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopes offer a powerful route for probing and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. Although linear momentum transfer from swift electrons to nanoparticles has been investigated theoretically and experimentally, subsequent analyzes revealed that several earlier predictions relied on non-causal dielectric functions or insufficient numerical convergence, leading to spurious sign reversals in the transferred momentum. Here, we derive analytical expressions and develop a numerically efficient electrodynamic framework to compute the linear momentum transferred from a swift electron to an isolated spherical nanoparticle described by a fully causal, local dielectric response. We apply our framework to large nanoparticles with 50 nm radius and explicitly resolve the spectral density of linear momentum transfer across the full frequency domain. Using causal dielectric functions for aluminum and bismuth, we analyze the role of electron velocity, impact parameter, and material-specific resonances. We find that, when causality and full multipolar convergence are enforced, the net transverse linear momentum transferred to spherical nanoparticles remains attractive toward the electron trajectory for all nanoparticles considered, despite the presence of material-dependent sign changes in individual electric and magnetic contributions. These results contrast with earlier theoretical predictions of net repulsive behavior and indicate that additional physical mechanisms beyond the present isolated, local description are required to account for experimentally observed repulsion. Our work establishes a robust reference framework for momentum transfer calculations and provides quantitative benchmarks relevant for electron-beam-based nanoscale manipulation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Angular momentum transfer from swift electrons to non-spherical nanoparticles within the dipolar approximation

In this work, we study the angular momentum transfer from a single swift electron to non-spherical metallic nanoparticles, specifically investigating spheroidal and polyhedral (Platonic Solids) shapes. While previous research has predominantly focused on spherical nanoparticles, our work expands the knowledge by exploring various geometries. Employing classical electrodynamics and the small particle limit, we calculate the angular momentum transfer by integrating the spectral density, ensuring causality through Fourier-transform analysis. Our findings demonstrate that prolate spheroidal nanoparticles exhibit a single blueshifted plasmonic resonance, compared to spherical nanoparticles of equivalent volume, resulting in lower angular momentum transfer. Conversely, oblate nanoparticles display two resonances (one blueshifted and one redshifted) resulting in a higher angular momentum transfer than their spherical counterparts. Additionally, Platonic Solids with fewer faces exhibit significant redshifts in plasmonic resonances, leading to higher angular momentum transfer due to edge effects. We also observe resonances and angular momentum transfers with similar characteristics in specific pairs of Platonic Solids, known as duals. These results highlight promising applications, particularly in electron tweezers technology.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Theory and simulations of the angular momentum transfer from swift electrons to spherical nanoparticles in STEM

Electron beams in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) exert forces and torques on study samples, with magnitudes that allow the controlled manipulation of nanoparticles (a technique called electron tweezers). Related theoretical research has mostly focused on the study of forces and linear momentum transfers from swift electrons (like those used in STEM) to nanoparticles. However, theoretical research on the rotational aspects of the interaction would benefit not only the development of electron tweezers, but also other fields within electron microscopy such as electron vortices. Starting from a classical-electrodynamics description, we present a theoretical model, alongside an efficient numerical methodology, to calculate the angular momentum transfer from a STEM swift electron to a spherical nanoparticle. We show simulations of angular momentum transfers to aluminum, gold, and bismuth nanoparticles of different sizes. We found that the transferred angular momentum is always perpendicular to the system's plane of symmetry, displaying a constant direction for all the cases considered. In the simulations, the angular momentum transfer increased with the radius of the nanoparticle, but decreased as the speed of the electron or the impact parameter increased. Also, the electric contribution to the angular momentum transfer dominated over the magnetic one, being comparable only for high electron's speeds (greater than 90% of the speed of light). Additionally, for nanoparticles with 1 nm radius of the studied materials, we found validity criteria for the small-particle approximation (in which the nanoparticle is modeled as an electric point dipole). We believe that these findings contribute to the understanding of rotational aspects present in STEM experiments, and might be useful for further developments in electron tweezers and other electron microscopy related techniques.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗