超快电子衍射技术及其应用

时间和空间上实时观测原子运动对于自然科学研究有着非常重大的意义, 而超快电子衍射(UED)技术同时具备飞秒激光脉冲的高时间分辨特性和电子衍射技术的高空间特性, 可以为实时观测原子级分辨尺度物质的结构变化提供一种有效工具. 本文综述了超快电子衍射技术的发展历史、实验方法以及相关应用, 并且展望了超快电子衍射技术未来的发展.     

Enhancement and modulation of terahertz radiation by multi-color laser pulses

We study theoretically intense terahertz radiation from multi-color laser pulse with uncommon frequency ratios. Comparing the two-color laser scheme, of which the uncommon frequency ratio should be set to be a specific value, we show that by using multi-color harmonic laser pulses as the first pump component, the lasers as the second pump component can be adjusted in a continuous frequency range. Moreover, these multi-color laser pulses can effectively modulate and enhance the terahertz radiation, and the terahertz yield increases with the increase of the wavelength of the uncommon pump component and is stable to the laser relative phase. Finally, we utilize the electron densities and velocities of ionization events to illustrate the physical mechanism of the intense terahertz generation.     

Radio-frequency compressed electron pulse-width characterization by cross-correlation between electron bunches and laser-induced plasma

A method is proposed to determine the temporal width of high-brightness radio-frequency compressed electron pulses based on cross-correlation technique involving electron bunches and laser-induced plasma. The temporal evolution of 2-dimensional transverse profile of ultrafast electron bunches repelled by the formed transient electric field of laser-induced plasma on a silver needle is investigated, and the pulse-width can be obtained by analyzing these time-dependent images.This approach can characterize radio-frequency compressed ultrafast electron bunches with picosecond or sub-picosecond timescale and up to 105 electron numbers.     

Compressing ultrafast electron pulse by radio frequency cavity

An ultrafast electron diffraction technique with both high temporal and spatial resolution has been shown to be a powerful tool to observe the material transient structural change on an atomic scale.The space charge forces in a multi-electron bunch will greatly broaden the electron pulse width,and therefore limit the temporal resolution of the high brightness electron pulse.Here in this work,we design an ultrafast electron diffraction system,and utilize a radio frequency cavity to realize the ultrafast electron pulse compression.We experimentally demonstrate that the stretched electron pulse width of14.98 ps with an electron energy of 40 keV and the electron number of 1.0 ×10~5 can be maximally compressed to about0.61 ps for single-pulse measurement and 2.48 ps for multi-pulse measurement by using a 3.2-GHz radiofrequency cavity.We also theoretically and experimentally analyze the parameters influencing the electron pulse compression efficiency for single-and multi-pulse measurements by considering radiofrequency field time jitter,electron pulse time jitter and their relative time jitter.We suggest that increasing the electron energy or shortening the distance between the compression cavity and the streak cavity can further improve the electron pulse compression efficiency.These experimental and theoretical results are very helpful for designing the ultrafast electron diffraction experiment equipment and compressing the ultrafast electron pulse width in a future study.