Search

The quantum interaction between free electrons and photons is fundamental to free-electron based light sources and free-electron quantum optics applications. A large coupling between free electrons and photons is generally desired. In this manuscript, I study the upper bound for the quantum coupling between free electrons and photons. Our study provides guidance to reach the strong coupling between free electrons and photons.

Compressing electron pulses is important in many applications of electron beam systems. In this study, we propose to use optical beat notes to compress electron pulses. The beat frequency is chosen to match the initial electron pulse duration, which enables the compression of electron pulses with a wide range of durations. This functionality extends the optical control of electron beams, which is important in compact electron beam systems such as dielectric laser accelerators. We also find that the dominant frequency of the electron charge density changes continuously along its drift trajectory, which may open up new opportunities in coherent interaction between free electrons and quantum or classical systems.

We consider radiation generated by an electron travelling parallel to a planar rectangular silicon grating: Smith-Purcell radiation to the vacuum side, internal Smith-Purcell radiation into the dielectric, and Cherenkov radiation into the dielectric. Internal Smith-Purcell radiation dominates over the other two radiation mechanisms in the range where conventional Smith-Purcell radiation is forbidden. This observation may lead to improved design of contactless particle beam monitors., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

The modulation and engineering of the free-electron wave function bring new ingredients to the electron-matter interaction. We study the dynamics of a free-electron passing by a two-level system fully quantum mechanically and emphasize the enhancement of interaction from the modulation of the free-electron wave function. In presence of modulation of the free-electron wave function, we show that the electron energy loss/gain spectrum is greatly enhanced for a coherent initial state of the two-level system, which can function as a probe of the atomic coherence. We further find that distantly separated two-level atoms can be entangled through interacting with the same free electron. For a dilute beam of modulated electrons interacting with the atom, our theory shows the enhanced interaction due to resonant modulation., Comment: Minor revisions. Expansion of the supplemental material

To optimize the coupling efficiency of grating couplers, we extend an analytical model for the design of apodized grating couplers, taking into account the constraints on the upper and lower bounds of the scattering strength as determined by fabrication technology. We prove that our model gives the global optimum distribution of the scattering strength with the presence of such constraints. We apply our model to the standard problem of coupling from a silicon chip to a single-mode fiber, as well as more complex problems including the coupling to a vortex beam, and the design of a focusing grating. In the problem of coupling to a vortex beam, we validate our model with full-wave numerical simulations. For this problem, our design obtains efficiency that is significantly higher compared with existing designs. Our theoretical study provides a solid foundation for apodized grating coupler design in different material platforms, and our deterministic algorithm can function as a near-optimum starting point for advanced optimizations.

To be useful for most scientific and medical applications, compact particle accelerators will require much higher average current than enabled by current architectures. For this purpose, we propose a photonic crystal architecture for a dielectric laser accelerator, referred to as a multi-input multi-output silicon accelerator (MIMOSA), that enables simultaneous acceleration of multiple electron beams, increasing the total electron throughput by at least one order of magnitude. To achieve this, we show that the photonic crystal must support a mode at the $\Gamma$ point in reciprocal space, with a normalized frequency equal to the normalized speed of the phase matched electron. We show that the figure of merit of the MIMOSA can be inferred from the eigenmodes of the corresponding infinitely periodic structure, which provides a powerful approach to design such devices. Additionally, we extend the MIMOSA architecture to electron deflectors and other electron manipulation functionalities. These additional functionalities, combined with the increased electron throughput of these devices, permit all-optical on-chip manipulation of electron beams in a fully integrated architecture compatible with current fabrication technologies, which opens the way to unconventional electron beam shaping, imaging, and radiation generation.

We develop an analytical framework for nonreciprocal radiative heat transfer in two-body planar systems. Based on our formalism, we identify effects that are uniquely nonreciprocal in near-field heat transfer in planar systems. We further introduce a general thermodynamic constraint that is applicable for both reciprocal and nonreciprocal planar systems, in agreement with the second law of thermodynamics. We numerically demonstrate our findings in an example system consisting of magneto-optical materials. Our formalism applies to both near- and far-field regimes, opening opportunities for exploiting nonreciprocity in two-body radiative heat transfer systems., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Initial announce: Oct. 20th, 2019

The conventional notion for achieving high efficiency in thermophotovoltaics (TPVs) is to use a monochromatic emission at a photon energy corresponding to the band gap of the cell. Here, we prove theoretically that such a notion is only accurate under idealized conditions, and further show that when non-radiative recombination is taken into account, efficiency improvement can be achieved by broadening the emission spectrum, due to an enhancement in the open-circuit voltage. Broadening the emission spectrum also improves the electrical power density, by increasing the short-circuit current. To practically illustrate these findings, we focus on surface polariton-mediated near-field TPVs. We propose a versatile design strategy for broadening the emission spectrum via stacking of multiple plasmonic thin film layers. As an example, we consider a realistic ITO/InAs TPV, and predict a conversion efficiency of $50\%$ simultaneously with a power density of nearly $80$ W$/\mathrm{cm}^2$ at a $1300$ K emitter temperature. The performance of our proposed system far exceeds previous works in similar systems using a single plasmonic layer emitter.

In many optical systems, including metal films, dielectric reflectors, and photonic crystals, electromagnetic waves can experience evanescent decay. The spatial length scale of such decay defines the penetration depth. The ability to reduce the penetration depth is important for a number of applications in free-space and integrated photonics. In this paper, we consider a ultrathin metafilm structures consisting of alternating regions of metal and dielectric. We show that the penetration depth of such metafilm can be significantly smaller as compared to that of a corresponding metal thin film. The reduction of the penetration depth arises due to the enhanced effective mass in the photonic band structure. This effect can be used to enhance the reflectivity of ultrathin reflectors, and to increase the packing density of subwavelength plasmonic waveguides.

We show that up to 90% reflectivity can be achieved by using guided plasmonic resonances in a one-dimensional periodic array of plasmonic nanoribbon. In general, to achieve strong reflection from a guided resonance system requires one to operate in the strongly over-coupled regime where the radiative decay rate dominates over the intrinsic loss rate of the resonances. Using an argument similar to what has been previous used to derive the Chu-Harrington limit for antennas, we show theoretically that there is no intrinsic limit for the radiative decay rate even when the system has an atomic scale thickness, in contrast to the existence of such limits on antennas. We also show that the current distribution due to plasmonic resonance can be designed to achieve very high external radiative rate. Our results show that high reflectivity can be achieved in an atomically-thin graphene layer, pointing to a new opportunity for creating atomically-thin optical devices., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

We propose an on-chip optical power delivery system for dielectric laser accelerators based on a fractal 'tree-branch' dielectric waveguide network. This system replaces experimentally demanding free-space manipulations of the driving laser beam with chip-integrated techniques based on precise nano-fabrication, enabling access to orders of magnitude increases in the interaction length and total energy gain for these miniature accelerators. Based on computational modeling, in the relativistic regime, our laser delivery system is estimated to provide 21 keV of energy gain over an acceleration length of 192 um with a single laser input, corresponding to a 108 MV/m acceleration gradient. The system may achieve 1 MeV of energy gain over a distance less than 1 cm by sequentially illuminating 49 identical structures. These findings are verified by detailed numerical simulation and modeling of the subcomponents and we provide a discussion of the main constraints, challenges, and relevant parameters in regards to on-chip laser coupling for dielectric laser accelerators., Comment: 14 pages