Theoretical studies of the THz compression of low-to-medium energy electron pulses and the single-shot stamping of electron–THz timing jitter

The recent development of optical control of electron pulses brings new opportunities and methodologies in the fields of light–electron interaction and ultrafast electron diffraction (UED)/microscopy. Here, by a comprehensive theoretical study, we present a scheme to compress the longitudinal duration of low (⩽1 keV) to medium energy (1–70 keV) electron pulses by the electric field of a THz wave, together with a novel shot-by-shot jitter correction approach by using the magnetic field from the same wave. Our theoretical simulations suggest the compression of the electron pulse duration to a few femtoseconds and even sub-femtosecond. A comprehensive analysis based on typical UED patterns indicates a sub-femtosecond precision of the jitter correction approach. We stress that the energy independence of Coulomb interaction in the compression and the compact structure of THz device lay the foundation of the compression of low energy electron pulses. The combination of the THz compression of the electron pulse and the electron–THz jitter correction opens a way to improve the overall temporal resolution to attosecond for ultrafast electron probes with low to medium energies and high charge number per pulse, and therefore, it will boost the ultrafast detection of transient structural dynamics in surface science and atomically thin film systems.