Low-Energy-Spread Attosecond Bunching and Coherent Electron Acceleration in Dielectric Nanostructures
Uwe Niedermayer, Dylan S. Black, Kenneth J. Leedle, Yu Miao, Robert L. Byer, Olav Solgaard
Abstract
Rocket in your pocket: The creation and laser-driven acceleration of ultrashort electron pulses has drawn much interest in recent years. However, the rather large energy spread of these electron bunches leads to quick decoherence, such that they cannot be trapped in an optical potential well as required. The authors solve this problem using the technique of alternating phase focusing (APF), and experimentally demonstrate attosecond bunching on a chip. This allows scalable acceleration on a microchip without electron losses, and the two-stage nanophotonic APF buncher demonstrated here is the appropriate injector for such an accelerator, as it also provides compatible transverse focusing.