The AB effect and its expanding applications

Abstract

Electron interference phenomena are now easily observable with the advent of bright and yet coherent field-emission electron beams. The interaction of electron waves with electromagnetic fields is essentially described by the Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect. However, the AB effect has long been disputed due to a feature that cannot be understood in terms of classical electrodynamics. This paper describes the experiments that confirmed its existence and discusses its expanding applications to the observation of electromagnetic fields in the microscopic region.