Ebel Sven, Talebi Nahid
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science KiNSIS, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
Commun Phys. 2023;6(1):179. doi: 10.1038/s42005-023-01300-2. Epub 2023 Jul 15.
In free space, electrons undergo inelastic scattering in the presence of ponderomotive potentials generated by light pulses and standing light waves. The resulting modulated electron energy spectrum can exhibit the formation of discrete energy sidebands when multiple light beams are employed. Here, we demonstrate the inelastic scattering of slow-electron wavepackets at a propagating Hermite-Gaussian light beam. The pulsed Hermite-Gaussian beam thus forms a ponderomotive potential for the electron with sufficient momentum components, leading to the inelastic scattering and subsequent formation of discrete energy sidebands. We show that the resulting energy-gain spectra after the interaction are strongly influenced by the self-interference of the electrons in this ponderomotive potential. This effect is observable across various wavelengths, and the energy modulation can be controlled by varying the electron velocity and light intensity. By utilizing the vast landscape of structured electromagnetic fields, this effect introduces an additional platform for manipulating electron wavepackets.
在自由空间中，电子在由光脉冲和驻波光产生的有质动力势存在的情况下会发生非弹性散射。当使用多束光时，由此产生的调制电子能谱会呈现出离散能量边带的形成。在此，我们展示了慢电子波包在传播的厄米 - 高斯光束处的非弹性散射。脉冲厄米 - 高斯光束因此为具有足够动量分量的电子形成了一个有质动力势，导致非弹性散射以及随后离散能量边带的形成。我们表明，相互作用后产生的能量增益谱受到该有质动力势中电子自干涉的强烈影响。这种效应在各种波长下都可观测到，并且能量调制可以通过改变电子速度和光强来控制。通过利用结构化电磁场的广阔领域，这种效应为操纵电子波包引入了一个额外的平台。
