title: Field emission tip as a nanometer source of free electron femtosecond pulses.
abstract: We report a source of free electron pulses based on a field emission tip irradiated by a low-power femtosecond laser. The electron pulses are shorter than 70 fs and originate from a tip with an emission area diameter down to 2 nm. Depending on the operating regime we observe either photofield emission or optical field emission with up to 200 electrons per pulse at a repetition rate of 1 GHz. This pulsed electron emitter, triggered by a femtosecond oscillator, could serve as an efficient source for time-resolved electron interferometry, for time-resolved nanometric imaging and for synchrotrons.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. hommelhoff@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hommelhoff
authors.forename: Yvan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sortais
authors.forename: Anoush
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aghajani-Talesh
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kasevich