Miniature light-driven nanophotonic electron acceleration and control

Roy Shiloh*, Norbert Schönenberger, Yuval Adiv, Ron Ruimy, Aviv Karnieli, Tyler Hughes, R. Joel England, Kenneth James Leedle, Dylan S. Black, Zhexin Zhao, Pietro Musumeci, Robert L. Byer, Ady Arie, Ido Kaminer, Peter Hommelhoff

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) are fundamentally based on the interaction of photons with free electrons, where energy and momentum conservation are satisfied by mediation of a nanostructure. In this scheme, the photonic nanostructure induces near-fields which transfer energy from the photon to the electron, similar to the inverse-Smith–Purcell effect described in metallic gratings. This, in turn, may provide ground-breaking applications, as it is a technology promising to miniaturize particle accelerators down to the chip scale. This fundamental interaction can also be used to study and demonstrate quantum photon-electron phenomena. The spontaneous and stimulated Smith–Purcell effect and the photon-induced near-field electron-microscopy (PINEM) effect have evolved to be a fruitful ground for observing quantum effects. In particular, the energy spectrum of the free electron has been shown to have discrete energy peaks, spaced with the interacting photon energy. This energy spectrum is correlated to the photon statistics and number of photon exchanges that took place during the interaction. We give an overview of DLA and PINEM physics with a focus on electron phase-space manipulation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)862-930
Number of pages69
JournalAdvances in Optics and Photonics
Volume14
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Optica Publishing Group.

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