On-chip ultrafast acceleration: a revolutionary technology for light-matter interaction

by Roy Shiloh

Hebrew University

at Physics Colloquium

Tue, 10 Jun 2025, 12:00
Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015

Abstract

Our research focuses on using laser light to accelerate electron beams in free space through nanophotonic structures. This technology stands out from other particle acceleration methods due to its inherent miniaturization, potentially enabling direct integration into the human body via endoscopes for localized tumor irradiation, or compact designs suitable for small optical tables or space applications. Additionally, it can be driven with high repetition rates—from hundreds of kHz to MHz, and potentially GHz—producing attosecond electron pulses, with performance limited only by the laser technology driving it, which is typically a femtosecond laser now commercially available as a standard. In contrast, conventional high-energy electron accelerators, like the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC), require infrastructure spanning several kilometers and hundreds of staff, while cutting-edge peta-Watt lasers operate at much lower pulse rates, often below one pulse per second. Thanks to its excellent beam quality—comparable to that of advanced electron microscopes—this technology holds promise for developing tabletop, high-repetition-rate ultrafast electron sources with energies reaching 1 MeV and beyond.

In this talk, I will focus on our recent experimental achievements [1-2] – a proof-of-concept experiment showing that the on-chip electron accelerator works. Although feasible "on-paper", it was not straightforward to realize this in the lab. This feat required the conjoined efforts of different fields and tools: accelerator physics, nanophotonics, nanofabrication, electromagnetics, among others. We will review all the ingredients needed to construct the accelerator on a chip – and discuss the next steps.

[1] R. Shiloh, J. Illmer, T. Chlouba, P. Yousefi, N. Schönenberger, U. Niedermayer, A. Mittelbach, and P. Hommelhoff, "Electron Phase Space Control in Photonic Chip-Based Particle Acceleration," Nature 597, 498 (2021).
[2] T. Chlouba, R. Shiloh, S. Kraus, L. Brückner, J. Litzel, and P. Hommelhoff, "Coherent Nanophotonic Electron Accelerator," Nature 622, 476 (2023).

*** Refreshments at 12:00, talk at 12:15.

Created on 23-04-2025 by Kats, Yevgeny (katsye)
Updaded on 03-06-2025 by Kats, Yevgeny (katsye)