Light-based Chromatic Aberration Correction of Ultrafast Electron Microscopes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theoretical method to correct chromatic aberrations in ultrafast electron microscopes by using space- and time-dependent phase modulation with a shaped pulsed ponderomotive lens, significantly improving electron beam focus.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical technique for chromatic aberration correction in ultrafast electron microscopes using phase modulation with a pulsed ponderomotive lens.

Findings

Chromatic aberration reduced by up to a factor of seven.

The method enables advanced wavefront shaping of electrons.

The approach is based on space- and time-dependent phase modulation.

Abstract

We propose and theoretically demonstrate a technique that allows one to compensate for chromatic aberrations of traditional electron lenses in ultrafast electron microscopes. The technique is based on space- and time-dependent phase modulation of a pulsed electron beam using interaction with a shaped pulsed ponderomotive lens. The energy-selective focal distance is reached by combining the electron temporal chirp with the time-dependent size of the effective potential, with which the electrons interact. As a result, chromatic aberration can be reduced by up to a factor of seven. This approach paves the way for advanced transverse and longitudinal wavefront shaping of electrons in free space.