Terahertz-based attosecond metrology of relativistic electron beams

Abstract

Photons, electrons, and their interplay are at the heart of photonic devices and modern instruments for ultrafast science [1-10]. Nowadays, electron beams of the highest intensity and brightness are created by photoemission with short laser pulses, and then accelerated and manipulated using GHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. The electron beams are utilized to directly map photoinduced dynamics with ultrafast electron scattering techniques, or further engaged for coherent radiation production at up to hard X-ray wavelengths [11-13]. The push towards improved timing precision between the electron beams and pump optical pulses though, has been stalled at the few tens of femtosecond level, due to technical challenges with synchronizing the high power rf fields with optical sources. Here, we demonstrate attosecond electron metrology using laser-generated single-cycle THz radiation, which is intrinsically phase locked to the optical drive pulses, to manipulate multi-MeV relativistic electron beams. Control and single-shot characterization of bright electron beams at this unprecedented level open up many new opportunities for atomic visualization.

References in corpus (11)

• Terahertz-driven linear electron acceleration
• Dielectric Laser Acceleration
• Attosecond Electron Pulse Trains and Quantum State Reconstruction in Ultrafast Transmission Electron Microscopy
• Compression of sub-relativistic space-charge-dominated electron bunches for single-shot femtosecond electron diffraction
• Segmented Terahertz Electron Accelerator and Manipulator (STEAM)
• Direct measurement of sub-10 fs relativistic electron beams with ultralow emittance
• High-temporal-resolution electron microscopy for imaging ultrafast electron dynamics
• Relativistic electron beam acceleration in a zero-slippage terahertz-driven Inverse Free Electron Laser scheme
• Terahertz-driven, all-optical electron gun
• Terahertz streaking of few-femtosecond relativistic electron beams
• Femtosecond profiling of shaped X-ray pulses

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Achieving 50 femtosecond resolution in MeV ultrafast electron diffraction with a double bend achromat compressor
• Femtosecond compression dynamics and timing jitter suppression in a terahertz-driven electron bunch compressor
• Dynamical slowing down in an ultrafast photo-induced phase transition
• Femtosecond relativistic electron beam with reduced timing jitter from THz-driven beam compression
• High-purity free-electron momentum states prepared by three-dimensional optical phase modulation
• Terahertz oscilloscope for recording time information of ultrashort electron beams
• Parallel-Plate Waveguides for Terahertz-Driven MeV Electron Bunch Compression
• Lossless monochromation for electron microscopy with pulsed photoemission sources and rf cavities
• Multi-Objective Bayesian Active Learning for MeV-ultrafast electron diffraction
• Knife-edge based measurement of the 4D transverse phase space of electron beams with picometer-scale emittance
• Non-invasive time-sorting in radio-frequency compressed ultrafast electron diffraction
• Self-calibration technique for characterization of integrated THz waveguides
• Ultrafast Electron Diffraction: Visualizing Dynamic States of Matter