# Femtosecond compression dynamics and timing jitter suppression in a terahertz-driven electron bunch compressor

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel THz-driven method for compressing and stabilizing relativistic electron bunches, achieving significant reduction in bunch length and timing jitter, advancing ultrafast electron applications.

## Contribution

First demonstration of THz-driven electron bunch compression and timing jitter suppression using a shorted parallel-plate structure with femtosecond-scale control.

## Key findings

- Achieved nearly 3x compression of electron bunches
- Reduced timing jitter by more than 2x to 31 fs rms
- Produced 39 fs rms electron bunch length

## Abstract

We present the first demonstration of THz-driven bunch compression and timing stabilization of a few-fC relativistic electron beam with kinetic energy of 2.5 MeV using quasi-single-cycle strong field THz radiation in a shorted parallel-plate structure. Compression by nearly a factor of 3 produced a 39 fs rms bunch length and a reduction in timing jitter by more than a factor of 2, to 31 fs rms, offering a significant improvement to beam performance for applications like ultrafast electron diffraction. This THz-driven technique provides a critical step towards unprecedented timing resolution in ultrafast sciences and other accelerator applications using femtosecond-scale electron beams.