title: External time-varying fields and electron coherence.
abstract: The effect of time-varying electromagnetic fields on electron coherence is investigated. A sinusoidal electromagnetic field produces a time-varying Aharonov-Bohm phase. In a measurement of the interference pattern which averages over this phase, the effect is a loss of contrast. This is effectively a form of decoherence. We calculate the magnitude of this effect for various electromagnetic field configurations. The result seems to be sufficiently large to be observable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cosmology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA. jen-tsung.hsiang@tufts.edu
authors.forename: Jen-Tsung
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Hsiang
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Ford