Related papers: Design of an electron microscope phase plate using…
Precise control of the electron phase accumulated during its sub-cycle motion within intense laser fields is essential in strong-field physics, yet remains mostly indirect and complicated so far. In this Letter, we develop a novel approach…
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…
Upcoming high-intensity laser systems will be able to probe the quantum-induced nonlinear regime of electrodynamics. So far unobserved QED phenomena such as the discovery of a nonlinear response of the quantum vacuum to macroscopic…
Zernike's phase contrast microscopy (PCM) is among the most widely used techniques for observing phase objects, but it lacks quantitative nature, as it cannot directly provide phase information. Current methods for computationally…
A comprehensive approach for simulating lasing dynamics in a liquid crystal based laser is presented. The approach takes into account the transformation of the liquid crystal structure caused by applied voltage. In particular, it allows us…
The field of laser-matter interaction traditionally deals with the response of atoms, molecules and plasmas to an external light wave. However, the recent sustained technological progress is opening up the possibility of employing intense…
The evolution of an electron beam colliding head-on with a strong plane-wave field is investigated in the framework of strong-field QED including radiation-reaction effects due to photon emission. Employing a kinetic approach to describe…
Free electrons moving in an optical standing wave field feel the ponderomotive potential, acting as a refractive-index medium in electron optics. Emerging technologies involving this potential have been proposed and realized in electron…
Formation of a bright-field microscopic image of a transparent phase object is described in terms of elementary geometrical optics. Our approach is based on the premise that image replicates the intensity distribution (real or virtual) at…
We employ heterodyne interferometry to investigate the effect of a single organic molecule on the phase of a propagating laser beam. We report on the first phase-contrast images of individual molecules and demonstrate a single-molecule…
Interfacing electrons and light enables ultrafast electron microscopy, quantum control of electrons, as well as new optical elements for high sensitivity imaging. Here we demonstrate for the first time programmable transverse electron beam…
Efficient conversion of photons to electrical energy has a wide variety of applications including imaging, energy harvesting, and infrared detection. The coupling of electromagnetic radiation to free electron oscillations at a metal…
A short, tutorial introduction to some basic concepts of laser-plasma interactions at ultra-high intensities is given. The selected topics include a) elements of the relativistic dynamics of an electron in electromagnetic fields, including…
Current progress in programmable electrostatic phase plates raises questions about their usefulness for specific applications. Here, we explore different designs for such phase plates with the specific goal of correcting spherical…
An improved quantum trajectory Monte Carlo method involving the Stark shift of the initial state, Coulomb potential, and multielectron polarization-induced dipole potential is used to revisit the origin of the low-energy interference…
We report on a reflective wave-plate system utilizing phase-shifting mirrors (PSM) for a continuous variation of elliptical polarization without changing the beam position and direction. The scalability of multilayer optics to large…
We develop a theoretical description of a device for coherent conversion of microwave to optical photons. For the device, dopant ions in a crystal are used as three-level systems, and interact with the fields inside overlapping microwave…
The nonlinear quantum interaction of a linearly polarized x-ray probe beam with a focused intense standing laser wave is studied theoretically. Because of the tight focusing of the standing laser pulse, diffraction effects arise for the…
The emission of a photon by an electron in an intense laser field is one of the most fundamental processes in electrodynamics and underlies the many applications that utilize high-energy photon beams. This process is typically studied for…
Ultrafast control of electron dynamics in solid state systems has recently found particular attention. By increasing the electric field strength of laser pulses, the light-matter interaction in solids might turn from a perturbative into a…