Publication date: 8th June 2021
Over last decades, electron microscopy has become a very powerful and versatile technique for nano- or atomic-scale imaging and spectroscopy [1]. Major advancements and outstanding capabilities have been made possible thanks to better spatial and temporal control over the amplitude and phase of the wave function that characterizes the fast electrons used as sample probes. Control over the beam shape is commonly achieved using complex arrangements of magneto- and electrostatic electron lenses that enable sub-Ångstrom focusing and beam scanning, as well as correcting aberrations of electron optics. The phase of the electron wave function can be additionally modified by introducing static phase plates.
We envision an alternative to traditional electron-optics elements, materialized in the concept of the optically-driven electron modulator that enables dynamical shaping of electron-beam wave functions both in space and time. This approach capitalizes recent experimental demonstrations of wave function control through optical fields [2] combined with ultrafast control over the electron-light interaction [3-5]. Specifically, we propose two types of schemes to realize optical control over the electron beam shape: a photonic aberration corrector (PAC) that exploits the interaction of the electron with light scattered from a thin film; and an optical free-space electron modulator (OFEM) operating in free space. Based on realistic designs combined with detailed simulations, we demonstrate an application with high potential for improving the resolution of electron microscopes, whereby the electron-light interaction is used to correct for common aberrations introduced by electro- or magneto-static lenses in current setups [6]. In addition, we demonstrate the possibility of generating exotic electron beam shapes [6,7], with the extra advantage that fast control over such shapes is inherent to the optical elements used in our designs.
Our theoretical work suggests that the proposed PAC and OFEM elements could offer better versatility and compactness with respect to traditional static electron phase plates and corrector designs, and we foresee that they could open a new era of electron microscopy, both in aberration correction and in the generation of on-demand electron beams.
This work has been supported in part by the European Research Council (Advanced Grant 789104-eNANO), the European Commission (Horizon 2020 Grants 101017720 FET-Proactive EBEAM and 964591-SMART-electron), the Spanish MINECO (MAT2017-88492-R and Severo Ochoa CEX2019-000910-S), the Catalan CERCA Program, and Fundaci\'{o}s Cellex and Mir-Puig.
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