Computer techniques and software are developed to study the dynamics of electron packets on a subpicosecond time scale in streak image tubes and photoelectron diffractometers. It is shown that the Coulomb spread of an electron packet substantially increases for a sufficiently narrow energy distribution of photoelectrons, due to disintegrative space charge effects inside the packet. © 1998 Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(98)00808-3] Subject terms: space charge broadening; photoelectron energy distribution; computer modeling.Paper HSP-08