Electron beams are powerful tools for scientific and industrial applications. Owing to their short wavelength, electrons have seen broad use in advanced instrumentation, enabling X-ray generation, real-space imaging at sub-atomic scales, enhanced resolution in nano-fabrication, high precision mechanical machining and cancer treatment to name a few.
Recent advancements in technology have enabled the generation of densely packed, ultrashort pulses of electrons. Trains of femtosecond-long, relativistic beams can now be produced at MHz repetition rates in a compact room-sized setup, opening the doors to a plethora of new applications. Among others, Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) has established itself as a leading technique to study non-equilibrium physical systems in solid, gas and liquid phases, providing a dynamic picture of atomic motion at femtosecond time-scales.
I will first cover recent work on scientific and technological developments in high-brightness electron beam generation and radiofrequency-based production and manipulation. I will then introduce the UED technique and discuss advancements in spatio-temporal resolution, with emphasis on the work performed at HiRES, the relativistic UED setup at LBNL.
Daniele Filippetto is a staff scientist and the Deputy Director for the Berkeley Accelerator Control and Instrumentation program at LBNL.
He received a PhD in Applied Electromagnetism from the University "La Sapienza" of Rome in 2007. His research is focused on the physics and technology of electron beams and their applications, such as ultrafast electron diffraction and Free Electron Lasers.
Between 2007 and 2010 he worked at the National Institute on Nuclear Physics (INFN) on the realization of the first Italian Free Electron Laser. He joined LBNL in 2010, as a lead scientist working on a new concept of electron injector for the next generation of MHz-class Free Electron Lasers, such as the LCLS-II at SLAC.
Dr. Filippetto is the recipient of the 2014 Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy-Basic Energy Sciences, and spent the last few years developing relativistic ultrafast electron diffraction capabilities at LBNL
