Abstract-A terahertz-driven electron gun

W. Ronny Huang, Emilio A. Nanni, Koustuban Ravi, Kyung-Han Hong, Liang Jie Wong, Phillip D. Keathley, A. Fallahi, Luis Zapata, Franz X. Kärtner

http://arxiv-web3.library.cornell.edu/abs/1409.8668

Electron sources at keV-MeV energies are indispensable for applications such as ultrafast electron diffraction, x-ray generation, and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. However, the accessibility and size of current accelerators based on radio-frequency (RF) technology are limited by the achievable electric fields. Terahertz based accelerators promise unprecedented compactness compared to current RF accelerators due to the intense electric fields that can be applied in the accelerating structures. Here, electron bunches of 50 fC from a flat copper photocathode are accelerated from rest to a mean energy of 18 eV by a single-cycle THz field with peak electric field gradient of 72 MV/m at 1 kHz repetition rate. Scaling of the THz field into the gigavolt per meter regime would translate to electron energies of ~100 keV. Furthermore, in combination with the recent demonstration of a THz linear accelerator (linac), this is a milestone toward a millimeter- to centimeter-scale relativistic electron source.