Related papers: Optical excitations in electron microscopy
Free-electron interactions with light and matter have long served as a cornerstone for exploring the quantum and ultrafast dynamics of material excitation. In recent years, this paradigm has evolved from a classical description of radiation…
The role of surface collective excitations in the electron relaxation in small metal particles is studied. It is shown that the dynamically screened electron-electron interaction in a nanoparticle contains a size-dependent correction…
The interaction between free electrons and nanoscale optical fields has emerged as a unique platform to investigate ultrafast processes in matter and explore fundamental quantum phenomena. In particular, optically modulated electrons are…
Plasmonics, the science and technology of the interaction of light with metallic objects, is fundamentally changing the way we can detect, generate and manipulate light. Although the field is progressing swiftly, thanks to the availability…
Generation of energetic (hot) electrons is an intrinsic property of any plasmonic nanostructure under illumination. Simultaneously, a striking advantage of metal nanocrystals over semiconductors lies in their very large absorption cross…
Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for investigating the optical properties of materials at the nanoscale, offering unique insights into the behavior of photonic and plasmonic materials under electron…
Free electrons are unique tools to probe and manipulate nanoscale optical fields with emerging applications in ultrafast spectromicroscopy and quantum metrology. However, advances in this field are hindered by the small probability…
Probing optical excitations with high resolution is important for understanding their dynamics and controlling their interaction with other photonic elements. This can be done using state-of-the-art electron microscopes, which provide the…
Spectroscopies utilizing free electron beams as probes offer detailed information on the reciprocal-space excitations of 2D materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. Yet, despite the attention paid to such…
Focused beams of electrons, which act as both sources, and sensors of electric fields, can be used to characterise the electric response of complex photonic systems by locally probing the induced optical near fields. This functionality can…
Strong interaction between light and matter waves, such as electron beams in electron microscopes, has recently emerged as a new tool for understanding entanglement. Here, we systematically investigate electron-light interactions from first…
Functional nanomaterials, including 2D materials and their heterostructures are expected to impact fields ranging from catalysis, optoelectronics to nanophotonics. To realize their potential, novel experimental approaches need to be…
Spontaneous processes triggered in a sample by free electrons are commonly regarded as incoherent, and therefore unable to interfere with external light sources. Here, we challenge this concept by showing through first-principles theory…
High energy electron beams can now be routinely focused to 1-2 {\AA} and offer the ability to obtain vibrational information from materials using monochromated electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in a scanning transmission electron…
Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) performed in transmission electron microscopes is shown to directly render the photonic local density of states (LDOS) with unprecedented spatial resolution, currently below the nanometer. Two…
A new type of excitations by highly focused electron beams in scanning transmission electron microscopes is predicted for nanoparticles. The calculated electron energy loss spectra of metallic (silver) and insulating (SiO(sub2))…
Plasmons can be excited during photoemission and produce spectral photoelectron features that yield information on the nanoscale optical response of the probed materials. However, these so-called plasmon satellites have so far been observed…
Investigating the interaction of electron beams with materials and light has been a field of research since more than a century. The field was advanced theoretically by the raise of quantum mechanics and technically by the introduction of…
Excitons and plasmons are the two most fundamental types of collective electronic excitations occurring in solids. Traditionally, they have been studied separately using bulk techniques that probe their average energetic structure over…
Watching the motion of electrons on their natural nanometre length- and femtosecond time scales is a fundamental goal and an open challenge of contemporary ultrafast science. Optical techniques and electron microscopy currently mostly…