ABSTRACT
We propose and demonstrate a method to reduce the pulse width and timing jitter of a relativistic electron beam through THz driven beam compression. In this method the longitudinal phase space of a relativistic electron beam is manipulated by a linearly polarized THz pulse copropagating in a dielectric tube such that the bunch tail has a higher velocity than the bunch head, which allows simultaneous reduction of both pulse width and timing jitter after passing through a drift. In this experiment, the beam is compressed by more than a factor of 4 from 130 fs to 28 fs with the arrival time jitter also reduced from 97 fs to 36 fs, opening up new opportunities in using pulsed electron beams for studies of ultrafast dynamics. This technique provides an effective way to manipulate beam longitudinal phase space with a THz pulse and may have a strong impact in accelerator and ultrafast science facilities that require femtosecond electron beams with tight synchronization to external lasers.
ABSTRACT
We propose and demonstrate a terahertz (THz) oscilloscope for recording time information of an ultrashort electron beam. By injecting a laser-driven THz pulse with circular polarization into a dielectric tube, the electron beam is swept helically such that the time information is uniformly encoded into the angular distribution that allows one to characterize both the temporal profile and timing jitter of an electron beam. The dynamic range of the measurement in such a configuration is significantly increased compared to deflection with a linearly polarized THz pulse. With this THz oscilloscope, nearly 50-fold longitudinal compression of a relativistic electron beam to about 15 fs (rms) is directly visualized with its arrival time determined with 3 fs accuracy. This technique bridges the gap between streaking of photoelectrons with optical lasers and deflection of relativistic electron beams with radio-frequency deflectors, and should have wide applications in many ultrashort electron-beam-based facilities.
