Laser acceleration and deflection of 96.3 keV electrons with a silicon dielectric structure

Radio frequency particle accelerators are ubiquitous in ultrasmall and ultrafast science, but their size and cost have prompted exploration of compact and scalable alternatives such as the dielectric laser accelerator. We present the first demonstration, to the best of our knowledge, of high gradient laser acceleration and deflection of electrons with a silicon structure. Driven by a 5 nJ, 130 fs mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser at 907 nm wavelength, our devices achieve accelerating gradients in excess of 200 MeV/m and suboptical cycle streaking of 96.30 keV electrons. These results pave the way for high gradient silicon dielectric laser accelerators using commercial lasers and subfemtosecond electron beam experiments. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America