Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Electrochemical Etching and Characterization of Sharp Field Emission Points for Electron Impact Ionization
Published on: July 12, 2016
Shaped cathodes for the production of ultra-short multi-electron pulses
Ariel Alcides Petruk1, Kostyantyn Pichugin1, Germán Sciaini1
1Department of Chemistry and Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
Abstract:
An electrostatic electron source design capable of producing sub-20 femtoseconds (rms) multi-electron pulses is presented. The photoelectron gun concept builds upon geometrical electric field enhancement at the cathode surface. Particle tracer simulations indicate the generation of extremely short bunches even beyond 40 cm of propagation. Comparisons with compact electron sources commonly used for femtosecond electron diffraction are made.

