Plasmonic electron acceleration with the meta-surfaces

A mechanism for electron acceleration by spoof surface-plasmons (SSP) is proposed. By using a specially designed meta-surface with gradient structural size, the SSP and electrons can be accelerated simultaneously along the surface, which gives rise to a long-range and efficient electron-SSP interaction. Compared with the homogeneous meta-surfaces, the increment of electron kinetic energy, ∼19 keV, is enhanced by two orders of magnitude. The effect may be valuable for developing efficient plasmonic electron accelerators.