A femtosecond electron diffraction system

Abstract

The femtosecond electron diffraction (FED) is a unique method for the study of the changes of complex molecular structures, and has been specifically applied in the investigations of transient-optics, opto-physics, crystallography, and other fields. The FED system designed by the present group, consists of a 35nm Ag photocathode evaporated on an ultraviolet glass, an anode with a 0.1mm aperture, two pairs of deflection plate for the deflection of electron beams in X and Y directions, and the Y deflection plate can be used as a scanning plate while measuring the pulse width of electron beams, the double MCPs detector for the enhancing and detecting of electron image. The magnetic lens was used for the focusing of the electron beams, and the focal length is 125mm. The distance between the object(the photocathode) and the image(the sample) is 503mm, and the size of electron beams is smaller than 17microns after focusing, the convergence angle is of -0.075~0.075°, and the temporal resolution is better than 350fs.