Self-Heterodyne Diffractive Imaging of Ultrafast Electron Dynamics Monitored by Single-Electron Pulses

The direct imaging of time-evolving molecular charge densities on atomistic scale and at femtosecond resolution has long been an elusive task. In this theoretical study, we propose a self-heterodyne electron diffraction technique based on single electron pulses. The electron is split into two beams, one passes through the sample and its interference with the second beam produces a heterodyne diffraction signal that images the charge density. Application to probing the ultrafast electronic dynamics in Mg-phthalocyanine demonstrates its potential for imaging chemical dynamics.