Electron Diffraction

This is the archetypical experiment to prove that the electron is a wave. My idea is to disturb the wavelength of the electron beam with a gamma ray beam colliding with the electron beam at various angles. The interference pattern is not that of the gamma rays, but that of the electron waves. The change in the electron wave interferogram is easily measurable for the Aharonov Bohn effect for example, when Chambers put an iron whisker between the electron beams. Electron diffraction is also used in electron microscopes. L. H. Ryder describes the AB effect on pp. 98 ff. of his book, “Quantum Field Theory”. This AB theory is incorrect but the experimental set up and basic diffraction theory is OK. The phase difference between electron waves form the two openings of a Young interferometer is:

delta = 2 pi a / lambda

where a is geometrical and lambda the electron wavelength. The experiment can be repeated with an electron beam replacing the gamma wave beam, so that there is electron electron collision. In both cases there should be a shift a which is a function of angle and so on. The easiest thing to do is to take data form the electron Compton effect, which is a well known technique based on the modification of an electron microscope. We have already shown that the theory fails completely using data from a Canadian group.