Localization of a quantum particle in a classical one-component plasma.III. Mutual coherence and coherence degradation in Coulomb-disordered media (opens in new tab)

We derive the mutual coherence function of an electron beam propagating through a static or dynamic Coulomb-disordered medium and show that its decay introduces an intrinsic coherence-reduction mechanism relevant for electron microscopy in Coulomb-disordered media. Using the Efimov path-integral formalism, the coherence length $\rho_c$ is expressed through the same disorder correlator that governs the single-particle localization length $\ell$. ...