Single-cycle optical control of beam electrons

Abstract

Single-cycle optical pulses with a controlled electromagnetic waveform allow to steer the motion of low-energy electrons in atoms, molecules, nanostructures or condensed-matter on attosecond dimensions in time. However, high-energy electrons under single-cycle light control would be an enabling technology for beam-based attosecond physics with free-electron lasers or electron microscopy. Here we report the control of freely propagating keV electrons with an isolated optical cycle of mid-infrared light and create a modulated electron current with a peak-cycle-specific sub-femtosecond structure in time. The evident effects of the carrier-envelope phase, amplitude and dispersion of the optical waveform on the temporal composition, pulse durations and chirp of the free-space electron wavefunction demonstrate the sub-cycle nature of our control. These results create novel opportunities in laser-driven particle acceleration, seeded free-electron lasers, attosecond space-time imaging, electron quantum optics and wherever else high-energy electrons are needed with the temporal structure of single-cycle light.

arXiv comment13 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Optical Excitations with Electron Beams: Challenges and Opportunities
• Free-Electron Shaping Using Quantum Light
• Modulation of Cathodoluminescence Emission by Interference with External Light
• Electron Pulse Compression with Optical Beat Note
• Coherent scattering of an optically-modulated electron beam by atoms
• Atomic real-space perspective of light-field-driven currents in graphene
• Self-trapping of slow electrons in the energy domain
• Free-electron tomography of few-cycle optical waveforms
• Scattering of ultrashort electron wave packets: optical theorem, differential phase contrast and angular asymmetries
• Field-induced rocking curve effects in attosecond electron diffraction
• Imaging Nanoscale Carrier, Thermal, and Structural Dynamics with Time-Resolved and Ultrafast Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy
• Quantum wavefunction reconstruction by free-electron spectral shearing interferometry
• Scattering-asymmetry control with ultrafast electron wave packet shaping
• Infrared single-cycle pulse induced high-energy plateaus in high-order harmonic spectroscopy
• Quantum states interrogation using a pre-shaped free electron wavefunction