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In this paper we describe an ultrafast scanning electron microscope setup developed for the research of inelastic scattering of electrons at optical near-fields of periodic dielectric nanostructures. Electron emission from the Schottky…

Applied Physics · Physics 2018-08-01 M. Kozák , J. McNeur , N. Schönenberger , J. Illmer , A. Li , A. Tafel , P. Yousefi , T. Eckstein , P. Hommelhoff

The ability to modulate free electrons with light has emerged as a powerful tool to produce attosecond electron wavepackets. However, research has so far aimed at the manipulation of the longitudinal wave function component, while the…

Optics · Physics 2023-06-14 F. Javier García de Abajo , Claus Ropers

Free electron radiation such as Cerenkov, Smith--Purcell, and transition radiation can be greatly affected by structured optical environments, as has been demonstrated in a variety of polaritonic, photonic-crystal, and metamaterial systems.…

Efficient coupling between light and bulk plasmons (BPs) remains a central challenge because of their inherent mode mismatch, limited penetration depth, and pronounced resonant energy mismatch between visible-range photons and BPs. In this…

Recent technological advances allowed the coherent optical manipulation of high-energy electron wavepackets with attosecond precision. Here we theoretically investigate the collision of optically-modulated pulsed electron beams with atomic…

Atomic Physics · Physics 2021-04-21 Yuya Morimoto , Peter Hommelhoff , Lars Bojer Madsen

Single-pixel imaging, originally developed in light optics, facilitates fast three-dimensional sample reconstruction, as well as probing with light wavelengths undetectable by conventional multi-pixel detectors. However, the spatial…

The inelastic interaction between flying particles and optical nanocavities gives rise to entangled states in which some excitations of the latter are paired with changes in the energy or momentum of the former. In particular, entanglement…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-09-23 Andrea Konečná , Fadil Iyikanat , F. Javier García de Abajo

We analyze the interaction between a free electron and an ensemble of identical optical emitters. The mutual coherence and correlations between the emitters can enhance the interaction with each electron and become imprinted on its energy…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-01-30 Ron Ruimy , Alexey Gorlach , Gefen Baranes , Ido Kaminer

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…

Flatbands emerge from a myriad of structures such as Landau levels, Lieb and Kagome lattices, linegraphs, and more recently moire superlattices. They enable unique properties including slow light in photonics, correlated phases in…

Recent advancements in electron microscopy have introduced innovative techniques enabling the inelastic interaction of fast electrons with tightly confined and intense light fields. These techniques, commonly summarized under the term…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2024-05-21 Niklas Müller , Soufiane el Kabil , Gerrit Vosse , Lina Hansen , Christopher Rathje , Sascha Schäfer

The interaction of swift, free-space electrons with confined optical near fields has recently sparked much interest. It enables a new type of photon-induced near-field electron microscopy, mapping local optical near fields around…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-10-27 Germann Hergert , Andreas Woeste , Petra Gross , Christoph Lienau

Ultrashort light pulses are ubiquitous in modern research, but the electromagnetic field of the optical cycles is usually not easy to obtain as a function of time. Field-resolved pulse characterization requires either a nonlinear-optical…

Optics · Physics 2022-11-30 Yuya Morimoto , Bo-Han Chen , Peter Baum

The quantum coupling between free-electrons and photons enables applying quantum optics techniques in electron microscopy. Here, we formulate the elastic electron-photon quantum coupling and its possible implications. Our analysis shows…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-10-20 Dingguo Zheng , Ofer Kfir

One of the astounding consequences of quantum mechanics is that it allows the detection of a target using an incident probe, with only a low probability of interaction of the probe and the target. This 'quantum weirdness' could be applied…

Electron microscopy relies on the spatial coherence of electron beams to generate atomic-scale images using interference and diffraction, which can be degraded by inelastic scattering processes that induce decoherence. Here, we present a…

Materials Science · Physics 2026-05-28 Cruz I. Velasco , Valerio Di Giulio , F. Javier García de Abajo

Rapid progress in precision nanofabrication and atomic design over the past 50 years has ushered in a succession of transformative eras for molding the generation and flow of light. The use of nanoscale and atomic features to design light…

Electrical pulse stimulation drives many important physical phenomena in condensed matter as well as in electronic systems and devices. Often, nanoscopic and mesoscopic mechanisms are hypothesized, but methods to image electrically driven…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2023-06-05 Thomas E Gage , Daniel B Durham , Haihua Liu , Supratik Guha , Ilke Arslan , Charudatta Phatak

Ultrafast electron-photon spectroscopy in electron microscopes commonly requires ultrafast laser setups. Photoemission from an engineered electron source is used to generate pulsed electrons, interacting with a sample that is excited by the…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2023-06-28 Masoud Taleb , Mario Hentschel , Kai Rossnagel , Harald Giessen , Nahid Talebi

We derive upper bounds to free-space concentration of electromagnetic waves, mapping out the limits to maximum intensity for any spot size and optical beam-shaping device. For sub-diffraction-limited optical beams, our bounds suggest the…

Optics · Physics 2020-07-08 Hyungki Shim , Haejun Chung , Owen D. Miller