Three Dimensional Alternating-Phase Focusing for Dielectric-Laser Electron Accelerators

The concept of dielectric-laser acceleration (DLA) provides the highest gradients among breakdown-limited (nonplasma) particle accelerators and thus the potential of miniaturization. The implementation of a fully scalable electron accelerator on a microchip by two-dimensional alternating phase focusing (APF), which relies on homogeneous laser fields and external magnetic focusing in the third direction, was recently proposed. In this Letter, we generalize the APF for DLA scheme to 3D, such that stable beam transport and acceleration is attained without any external equipment, while the structures can still be fabricated by entirely two-dimensional lithographic techniques. In the new scheme, we obtain significantly higher accelerating gradients at given incident laser field by additionally exploiting the new horizontal edge. This enables ultralow injection energies of about 2.5 keV (β=0.1) and bulky high voltage equipment as used in previous DLA experiments can be omitted. DLAs have applications in ultrafast time-resolved electron microscopy and diffraction. Our findings are crucial for the miniaturization of the entire setup and pave the way towards integration of DLAs in optical fiber driven endoscopes, e.g., for medical purposes.