Laser Acceleration and Deflection of 96.3 keV Electrons with a Silicon Dielectric Structure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first high-gradient laser acceleration and deflection of electrons using a silicon dielectric structure, achieving over 200 MeV/m and enabling compact, scalable particle accelerators.

Contribution

It introduces a novel silicon-based dielectric laser accelerator capable of high-gradient electron acceleration and deflection, using commercially available lasers.

Findings

Achieved over 200 MeV/m accelerating gradient.

Demonstrated sub-optical cycle streaking of 96.3 keV electrons.

Operated with a low-energy, femtosecond laser source.

Abstract

Radio frequency particle accelerators are ubiquitous in ultra-small and ultrafast science, but their size and cost has prompted exploration of compact and scalable alternatives like the dielectric laser accelerator. We present the first demonstration of high gradient laser acceleration and deflection of electrons with a silicon structure. Driven by a five nanojoule, 130 fs mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser at 907 nm wavelength, our devices achieve accelerating gradients in excess of 200 MeV/m and sub-optical cycle streaking of 96.30 keV electrons. These results pave the way for high gradient silicon dielectric laser accelerators using commercial lasers and sub-femtosecond electron beam experiments.