Diffraction from static potential in QED

Abstract

We model a wire as a cylindrical potential barrier and calculate diffraction from that potential using quantum electrodynamics. We compare our results with classical Fraunhofer diffraction. We find general agreement between the quantum and the classical results; however, we find that the classical approach overestimates the wire radius. We consider an incoming electron beam diffracting from the potential. We also consider the case of an incoming photon beam. For the photon case we only indicate the amplitudes that need to be evaluated numerically. We also study the case of two beams in phase that interfere and diffract from the wire-like potential.