RADIABEAM TECHNOLOGIES, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) has become an attractive technique to study the struc

Description

Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) has become an attractive technique to study the structural dynamics of materials on the sub-picosecond timescale, such as solid-liquid transitions. Researchers are demanding ever-shorter electron bunches in order to improve the resolution of their UED measurements. However producing intense sub-ps pulses of electrons in the desired energy range (30 - 100 keV) is challenging, due to space-charged induced longitudinal spreading. RadiaBeam, in collaboration with UCLA, proposes an innovative solution to increasing the temporal resolution of UED: by implementing a fast radiofrequency (RF) deflecting cavity immediately after the sample, the temporal profile of the diffraction pattern can be transformed into a transverse image. This method enables the use of longer, higher-charge pulses of electrons in the desired energy range, while obtaining a temporal resolution as fine as 100 fs.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Despite being a relatively recently developed technique, sub-ps ultrafast electron diffraction has already been used to produce ground-breaking scientific results in areas such as solid state phase transitions, surface dynamics, and gas phase reactions. The system we propose here, with improved resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, would enable even further breakthroughs in the understanding of ultrafast phenomena. It would be readily affordable by even small laboratories, with an estimated cost of less than $200k