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Register a new userFrom attosecond to zeptosecond coherent control of free-electron wave functions using semi-infinite light fields
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Added by
Fabrizio Carbone Dr
Publication date
2017
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Light-electron interaction in empty space is the seminal ingredient for free-electron lasers and also for controlling electron beams to dynamically investigate materials and molecules. Pushing the coherent control of free electrons by light to unexplored timescales, below the attosecond, would enable unprecedented applications in light-assisted electron quantum circuits and diagnostics at extremely small timescales, such as those governing intramolecular electronic motion and nuclear phenomena. We experimentally demonstrate attosecond coherent manipulation of the electron wave function in a transmission electron microscope, and show that it can be pushed down to the zeptosecond regime with existing technology. We make a relativistic pulsed electron beam interact in free space with an appropriately synthesized semi-infinite light field generated by two femtosecond laser pulses reflected at the surface of a mirror and delayed by fractions of the optical cycle. The amplitude and phase of the resulting coherent oscillations of the electron states in energymomentum space are mapped via momentum-resolved ultrafast electron energy-loss spectroscopy. The experimental results are in full agreement with our theoretical framework for light-electron interaction, which predicts access to the zeptosecond timescale by combining semi-infinite X-ray fields with free electrons.
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Attosecond science promises to reveal the most fundamental electronic dynamics occurring in matter and it can develop further by meeting two linked technological goals related to high-order harmonic sources: higher photon flux (permitting to measure low cross-section processes) and improved spectral tunability (allowing selectivity in addressing specific electronic transitions). New developments come through parametric waveform synthesis, which provides control over the shape of high-energy electric field transients, enabling the creation of highly-tunable isolated attosecond pulses via high-harmonic generation. Here we show that central energy, spectral bandwidth/shape and temporal duration of the attosecond pulses can be controlled by shaping the laser pulse waveform via two key parameters: the relative-phase between two halves of the multi-octave spanning optical spectrum, and the overall carrier-envelope phase. These results not only promise to expand the experimental possibilities in attosecond science, but also demonstrate coherent strong-field control of free-electron trajectories using tailored optical waveforms.
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