Method for developing a sub-10 fs ultrafast electron diffraction technology

The experimental observation of femtosecond dynamics in atoms and molecules by stroboscopic technologies utilizing x ray or electron flashes has attracted much attention and has rapidly developed. We propose a feasible ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) technology with high brightness and a sub-10 fs temporal resolution. We previously demonstrated a UED system with an overall temporal resolution of 31 fs by using an RF photoelectron gun and a 90° achromatic bending structure. This UED structure enabled a bunch duration of 25 fs and a low timing jitter of less than 10 fs while maintaining a high bunch charge of 0.6 pC. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple way to further compress the electron bunch duration to sub-10 fs based on installing an energy filter in the dispersion section of the achromatic bend. The energy filter removes the electrons belonging to nonlinear parts of the phase space. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the electron bunches can be compressed, at the sample position, to a 6.2 fs (rms) duration for a 100 fC charge. This result suggests that the energy filtering approach is more viable and effective than complicated beam-shaping techniques that commonly handle the nonlinear distribution of the electron beam. Furthermore, a gas-filled hollow core fiber compressor and a Ti:sapphire amplifier are used to implement pump laser pulses of less than 5 fs (rms). Thus, we could present the full simulation results of a sub-10 fs UED, and we believe that it will be one of the technical prototypes to challenge the sub-fs time resolution.