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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Tailored high-contrast attosecond electron pulses for coherent excitation and scattering

Sergey V. Yalunin*, Armin Feist, and Claus Ropers†

  • IV. Physical Institute, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany and Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

  • *yalunin@gwdg.de
  • †cropers@gwdg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 3, L032036 – Published 10 August, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.L032036

Abstract

Temporally shaping the density of electron beams using light forms the basis for a wide range of established and emerging technologies, including free-electron lasers and attosecond electron microscopy. The modulation depth of compressed electron pulses is a key figure of merit limiting applications. In this work, we present an approach for generating background-free attosecond electron pulse trains by sequential inelastic electron-light scattering. Harnessing quantum interference in the fractional Talbot effect, we suppress unwanted background density in electron compression by several orders of magnitude. Our results will greatly enhance applications of coherent electron-light scattering, such as stimulated cathodoluminescence and streaking.

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Phys. Rev. Research 3, L032036– Published 10 August, 2021
  • Received 19 March 2021
  • Accepted 7 June 2021
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