Probing atoms by periodically modulated electron bunches
Atomic Physics
2026-04-01 v1
Abstract
When passing through an undulator in a Free Electron Laser, dense bunches of relativistic electrons split into micro-bunches, attaining a periodic space-time structure. We show that the field of such periodically modulated bunches is tremendously influenced by coherence effects, resulting in a novel type of beam-atom interaction. Our results indicate that employing such bunches (alone or in combinations with the radiation they emit) offers a multitude of new opportunities for exploring atomic dynamics on a femtosecond time scale.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.28899,
title = {Probing atoms by periodically modulated electron bunches},
author = {A. B. Voitkiv and E. Schneidmiller and T. Pfeifer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.28899},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
6 pages, 4 figures