Measurement of femtosecond dynamics of ultrafast electron beams through terahertz compression and time-stamping

Abstract

Visualizing ultrafast dynamics at the atomic scale requires time-resolved characterization with femtosecond temporal resolution. For fully relativistic electron bunch probes, existing techniques for single-shot ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) are limited by the achievable electron probe bunch length, charge, and timing jitter. We present the first experimental demonstration of dual-fed THz-driven compression and time-stamping that enables electron probes with improved temporal resolution. This technique utilizes two counter-propagating quasi-single-cycle THz pulses generated from two OH-1 organic crystals coupled into an optimized THz compressor structure. We demonstrate electron bunch compression and time-of-arrival jitter suppression by a factor of 3 paving the way toward unique opportunities for UED time-resolved measurements.