Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Liang Jie Wong

Steven G Johnson

Nuh Gedik

Byron Freelon

Timm Rohwer

Marin Soljacic

John Dimitris Joannopoulos

Yichen Shen

Ido Kaminer

Ognjen Ilic

An apparatus includes at least one conductive layer, an electromagnetic (EM) wave source, and an electron source. The conductive layer has a thickness less than 5 nm. The electromagnetic (EM) wave source is in electromagnetic communication with the at least one conductive layer and transmits a first EM wave at a first wavelength in the at least one conductive layer so as to generate a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) field near a surface of the at least one conductive layer. The electron source propagates an electron beam at least partially in the SPP field so as to generate a second EM wave at a second wavelength less than the first wavelength.

Apparatus and methods for generating electromagnetic radiation

Methods and apparatus for modulating a particle pulse include a succession of Hermite-Gaussian optical modes that effectively construct a three-dimensional optical trap in the particle pulse's rest frame. Optical incidence angles between the propagation of the particle pulse and the optical pulse are tuned for improved compression. Particles pulses that can be modulated by these methods and apparatus include charged particles and particles with non-zero polarizability in the Rayleigh regime. Exact solutions to Maxwell's equations for first-order Hermite-Gaussian beams demonstrate single-electron pulse compression factors of more than 100 in both longitudinal and transverse dimensions. The methods and apparatus are useful in ultrafast electron imaging for both single- and multi-electron pulse compression, and as a means of circumventing temporal distortions in magnetic lenses when focusing ultra-short electron pulses.

Systems and methods for particle pulse modulation

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Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Liang Jie Wong