High resolution electron spectrometers for characterizing the contrast of isolated 25 as pulses

We quantify the effects of the energy resolution of a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer in an attosecond streak camera on the accuracy of measuring the relative amplitudes of satellite pulses around the main attosecond pulse. Our numerical simulations show that the spectral resolution can be significantly improved by restricting the acceptance angle using a pinhole located near the source of the photoelectrons. The intensity of the pre- and post-pulses which are 1% and 10% of a main 25 as pulse can potentially be measured with less than 10% error by two practical time-of-flight spectrometer designs. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.