Metasurface-based multi-harmonic free-electron light source
Name
s41377-018-0065-2.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.61 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
84e6dcf169470c3cdecf2132d811ecad
Author(s)
Rosolen, Gilles
Wong, Liang Jie
Rivera, Nicholas
Maes, Bjorn
Soljačić, Marin
Kaminer, Ido
Date Issued
2018
Journal
Light: Science and Applications
Publisher
Springer Nature
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2018, The Author(s). Metasurfaces are subwavelength spatial variations in geometry and material where the structures are of negligible thickness compared to the wavelength of light and are optimized for far-field applications, such as controlling the wavefronts of electromagnetic waves. Here, we investigate the potential of the metasurface near-field profile, generated by an incident few-cycle pulse laser, to facilitate the generation of high-frequency light from free electrons. In particular, the metasurface near-field contains higher-order spatial harmonics that can be leveraged to generate multiple higher-harmonic X-ray frequency peaks. We show that the X-ray spectral profile can be arbitrarily shaped by controlling the metasurface geometry, the electron energy, and the incidence angle of the laser input. Using ab initio simulations, we predict bright and monoenergetic X-rays, achieving energies of 30 keV (with harmonics spaced by 3 keV) from 5-MeV electrons using 3.4-eV plasmon polaritons on a metasurface with a period of 85 nm. As an example, we present the design of a four-color X-ray source, a potential candidate for tabletop multicolor hard X-ray spectroscopy. Our developments could help pave the way for compact multi-harmonic sources of high-energy photons, which have potential applications in industry, medicine, and the fundamental sciences.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/S41377-018-0065-2
