title: Single-shot femtosecond electron diffraction with laser-accelerated electrons: experimental demonstration of electron pulse compression.
abstract: We report the first experimental demonstration of longitudinal compression of laser-accelerated electron pulses. Accelerated by a femtosecond laser pulse with an intensity of 10¹⁸ W/cm², an electron pulse with an energy of around 350 keV and a relative momentum spread of about 10⁻² was compressed to a 500-fs pulse at a distance of about 50 cm from the electron source by using a magnetic pulse compressor. This pulse was used to generate a clear diffraction pattern of a gold crystal in a single shot. This method solves the space-charge problem in ultrafast electron diffraction.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Research Center for Beam Science, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan. tokita@laser.kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokita
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashida
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishoji
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakabe