Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 43: Quantum Optics at the Nanoscale: From Fundamental Physics to Quantum Technologies
(Joint Session HL, DS, O, and TT, organized by DS)

DS 43.2: Talk

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 17:15–17:30, CHE 91

Free-electron quantum optics — •Katharina E. Priebe, Christopher Rathje, Armin Feist, Sergey V. Yalunin, Sascha Schäfer, and Claus Ropers — 4th Physical Institute - Solids and Nanostructures, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Besides being a powerful tool for time-resolved measurements of nanoscale dynamics, ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UTEM) serves as an ideal test bench for quantum optical experiments studying the interaction with free-electron beams. Specifically, inelastic scattering between the electrons and strong optical near-fields [1] allows for a coherent manipulation of the electron quantum state [2]. The optical near-field imprints a sinusoidal phase modulation on the electron wavefunction, which is manifest in a comb of sidebands in the electron kinetic energy distribution. In this contribution, we will demonstrate how multiple near-fields can be employed to coherently control the free-electron momentum superposition states [3,4]. Furthermore, dispersive propagation translates the phase modulation into a density modulation: the electron wavefunction is self-compressed into a train of attosecond bursts. This temporal structuring of free-electron beams may find applications in electron microscopy with attosecond resolution.

[1] B. Barwick et al., Nature, 462, 902 (2009).

[2] A. Feist et al., Nature, 521, 200-203 (2015).

[3] K. E. Echternkamp et al. Nat. Phys 12, 1000-1004 (2016).

[4] K. E. Priebe et al. In preparation.