An experiment on the particle-wave nature of electrons

A primary electron beam of a transmission electron microscope is scattered into secondary beams by the planes of atoms of a single crystal. These secondary beams are focused to form a diffraction pattern in the final screen. This experiment is similar to the Thompson one which, independently by Davisson and Germer, demonstrated the De Broglie hypothesis of the existence of electron waves. Without changing the experimental apparatus, it is possible to realize an interference experiment with electrons coming from two spatially separated sources in analogy with the optical Young set-up. Both experiments are a clear evidence of the electron wave-like behaviour. By varying the conditions of illumination, changes of the fringe visibility which reveal the spatial coherence properties of the electron beam are displayed