A new analysis reveals what happens when very short or narrow electron beams encounter a particle. The research is published in the New Journal of Physics. Scientists should be able to achieve a new level of control over high-energy electrons interacting with a particle, according to the theoretical analysis by a RIKEN physicist and two colleagues.

Electrons are particles, but according to quantum mechanics they also behave like waves under certain circumstances.

Electron microscopes exploit this wave-like nature of electrons to obtain high-resolution images of objects by imaging how an electron beam is scattered from an object.