Research Projects

Our current projects are funded under the NSF grant: Award Number: 1759847, RUI: Studying Fundamental Electron-Photon Interactions with an Ultrafast Electron Microscope

This project will explore new techniques to efficiently control the spatial and temporal properties of short pulses of electrons. The first technique will use the Kapitza-Dirac effect to transfer orbital angular momentum from photons to electrons, enabling quantized transfer of orbital angular momentum between two different free particles. A successful demonstration of this experiment will show that light can be used to manipulate the spatial phase of an electron beam. The second technique that will be explored is the use of intense standing waves of light to compress electron pulses from picosecond durations to only a few femtoseconds. Current electron pulses used for ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy are limited to about 100 femtoseconds, which leaves a variety of dynamical processes out of reach. Electron pulses with durations of a few femtoseconds will provide an opportunity to follow dynamical processes in structural and electronic nanoscale systems. In summary, this project will demonstrate control over the spatial and temporal properties of electron pulses with novel methods that can have an impact on imaging and quantum control techniques that are needed for physics, chemistry, and biology.