Dielectric microstructures have generated much interest in recent years as a means of accelerating charged particles when powered by solid state lasers. The acceleration gradient (or particle energy gain per unit length) is an important figure of merit. To design structures with high acceleration gradients, we explore the adjoint variable method, a highly efficient technique used to compute the sensitivity of an objective with respect to a large number of parameters. With this formalism, the sensitivity of the acceleration gradient of a dielectric structure with respect to its entire spatial permittivity distribution is calculated by the use of only two full-field electromagnetic simulations, the original and 'adjoint'. The adjoint simulation corresponds physically to the reciprocal situation of a point charge moving through the accelerator gap and radiating. Using this formalism, we perform numerical optimizations aimed at maximizing acceleration gradients, which generate fabricable structures of greatly improved performance in comparison to previously examined geometries.

We report the production of optically spaced attosecond electron microbunches produced by the inverse free-electron-laser (IFEL) process. The IFEL is driven by a Ti:sapphire laser synchronized with the electron beam. The IFEL is followed by a magnetic chicane that converts the energy modulation into the longitudinal microbunch structure. The microbunch train is characterized by observing coherent optical transition radiation (COTR) at multiple harmonics of the bunching. Experimental results are compared with 1D analytic theory showing good agreement. Estimates of the bunching factors are given and correspond to a microbunch length of 410 attosec FWHM. The formation of stable attosecond electron pulse trains marks an important step towards direct laser acceleration.

We describe a proposed all-dielectric laser-driven undulator for the generation of coherent short wavelengths and explore the required electron beam parameters for its operation. The key concept for this laser-driven undulator is its ability to provide phase synchronicity between the deflection force from the laser and the electron beam for a distance that is much greater than the laser wavelength. Because of the possibility of high-peak electric fields from ultrashort pulse lasers on dielectric materials, the proposed undulator is expected to produce phase-synchronous GV=m deflection fields on a relativistic electron bunch and therefore lead to a very compact free electron based radiation device.

We demonstrate a new particle acceleration mechanism using 800 nm laser radiation to accelerate relativistic electrons in a semi-infinite vacuum. The experimental demonstration is the first of its kind and is a proof of principle for the concept of laser-driven particle acceleration in a structure loaded vacuum. We observed up to 30 keV energy modulation over a distance of 1000 lambda, corresponding to a 40 MeV/m peak gradient. The energy modulation was observed to scale linearly with the laser electric field and showed the expected laser-polarization dependence. Furthermore, as expected, laser acceleration occurred only in the presence of a boundary that limited the laser-electron interaction to a finite distance.

We propose a dielectric photonic structure for ultrafast deflection and focusing of relativistic charged particle beams. The structure is designed to transform a free-space laser beam into a deflection force that acts on the free particles with the same optical phase over a distance of travel that is much greater than the laser wavelength. The proposed structure has a two-dimensional geometry and is compatible with existing nanofabrication methods. Deflection fields of GV=m magnitude and subfemtosecond switching speeds are expected to be possible from these dielectric structures. With these elements a submeter scale extreme ultraviolet synchrotron source seems feasible.