We report a source of free electron pulses based on a field emission tip irradiated by a low-power femtosecond laser. The electron pulses are shorter than 70 fs and originate from a tip with an emission area diameter down to 2 nm. Depending on the operating regime we observe either photofield emission or optical field emission with up to 200 electrons per pulse at a repetition rate of 1 GHz. This pulsed electron emitter, triggered by a femtosecond oscillator, could serve as an efficient source for time-resolved electron interferometry, for time-resolved nanometric imaging and for synchrotrons.
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0507241,
title = {A Femtosecond Nanometer Free Electron Source},
author = {Peter Hommelhoff and Yvan Sortais and Anoush Aghajani-Talesh and Mark A. Kasevich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0507241},
year = {2007}
}