Tailored high-contrast attosecond electron pulses for coherent excitation and scattering

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to generate background-free attosecond electron pulse trains through sequential inelastic electron-light scattering, significantly improving electron pulse quality for advanced microscopy and spectroscopy.

Contribution

The work demonstrates a novel quantum interference technique using the fractional Talbot effect to suppress background in electron pulse compression.

Findings

Background suppression by several orders of magnitude

Enhanced coherence in electron-light scattering applications

Potential for improved attosecond electron microscopy

Abstract

Temporally shaping the density of electron beams using light forms the basis for a wide range of established and emerging technologies, including free-electron lasers and attosecond electron microscopy. The modulation depth of compressed electron pulses is a key figure of merit limiting applications. In this work, we present an approach for generating background-free attosecond electron pulse trains by sequential inelastic electron-light scattering. Harnessing quantum interference in the fractional Talbot effect, we suppress unwanted background density in electron compression by several orders of magnitude. Our results will greatly enhance applications of coherent electron-light scattering, such as stimulated cathodoluminescence and streaking.