Highly efficient multichannel spin-polarization detection

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Nov 11;107(20):207601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.207601. Epub 2011 Nov 8.

Abstract

Since the original work by Mott, the low efficiency of electron spin polarimeters, remaining orders of magnitude behind optical polarimeters, has prohibited many fundamental experiments. Here we report a solution to this problem using a novel concept of multichannel spin-polarization analysis that provides a stunning increase in efficiency by 4 orders of magnitude. This improvement was demonstrated in a setup using a hemispherical electron energy analyzer. An imaging setup proved the principal capability of resolving more than 10(5) data points in parallel.