Single Electron Interference and Diffraction Experiments with a High Energy Physics Detector

The Young-Feynman two-slit experiment for single electrons was carried out by inserting two nanometric slits and a fast recording system, capable of detecting the electron arrival-time, in a conventional transmission electron microscope. The sensor, designed for experiments at future high energy colliders, is based on a custom 4096 Monolithic Active Pixels CMOS chip, is equipped with a fast readout chain and can manage up to 10^6 frames per second, allowing the collection of high statistic samples of single electron events within a time interval compatible with the stability of the experimental setup and the coherence conditions of the illumination. For the first time in a single electron two-slit experiment, the time distribution of electron arrivals was obtained.