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- Title
Inelastic electron scattering at a single-beam structured light wave.
- Authors
Ebel, Sven; Talebi, Nahid
- Abstract
In free space, electrons undergo inelastic scattering in the presence of ponderomotive potentials generated by light pulses and standing light waves. The resulting modulated electron energy spectrum can exhibit the formation of discrete energy sidebands when multiple light beams are employed. Here, we demonstrate the inelastic scattering of slow-electron wavepackets at a propagating Hermite-Gaussian light beam. The pulsed Hermite-Gaussian beam thus forms a ponderomotive potential for the electron with sufficient momentum components, leading to the inelastic scattering and subsequent formation of discrete energy sidebands. We show that the resulting energy-gain spectra after the interaction are strongly influenced by the self-interference of the electrons in this ponderomotive potential. This effect is observable across various wavelengths, and the energy modulation can be controlled by varying the electron velocity and light intensity. By utilizing the vast landscape of structured electromagnetic fields, this effect introduces an additional platform for manipulating electron wavepackets. Inelastic interactions between electrons and light occur in free space through the presence of ponderomotive potentials generated by light. Here, the authors demonstrate that the use of a single spatially structured traveling light beam modulates the final electron energy spectrum, exhibiting the formation of discrete energy sidebands.
- Subjects
PONDEROMOTIVE force; ELECTRON scattering; SPEED of light; STANDING waves; ELECTROMAGNETIC fields; INELASTIC scattering; LIGHT intensity; INELASTIC neutron scattering
- Publication
Communications Physics, 2023, Vol 6, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2399-3650
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s42005-023-01300-2