G. Taban

Ultracold electron source for single-shot diffraction studies

Ultracold electron sources, which are based on near-threshold photo- and field-ionization of a cloud of laser-cooled atoms, offer the unique combination of low emittance and extended size that is essential for achieving single-shot, ultrafast electron diffraction of macromolecules. Here we present measurements of the effective temperature of such a pulsed electron source employing rubidium atoms that are magneto-optically trapped at the center of an accelerator structure. Transverse source temperatures ranging from 200 K down to 10 K are demonstrated, controllable with the wavelength of the ionization laser. Together with the 50 μm source size, the achievable temperature enables a transverse coherence length of ≈20 nm for a 100 μm sample size.

Ultracold electron sources

Ultra-cold plasmas with electron temperatures of ~10 K can be created by photo-ionization just above threshold of a cloud of laser-cooled atoms. Recently it was shown 7 by GPT particle tracking simulations that an ultra-cold plasma has an enormous potential as a pulsed bright electron source. Here we discuss these results in the framework of normalized 6D brightness, which allows us to make a proper comparison both with the performance of pulsed, radio-frequency photo-emission sources and with the performance of continuous, needle-like field-emission sources. In addition we speculate on the possibility of using ultra-cold plasmas to realize quantum degenerate electron beams, constituting the ultimate limit in electron beam brightness.