Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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AKBP: Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik

AKBP 2: Electron Accelerators and Sources II

AKBP 2.5: Talk

Monday, March 9, 2026, 12:15–12:30, SCH/A117

First demonstration of MeV electron diffraction with the ELBE SRF Gun: towards an MeV-UED instrument — •Louis Stein^1,2, André Arnold¹, Michael Klopf¹, Raffael Niemczyk¹, Anton Ryzhov¹, Jochen Teichert¹, Ece Uykur¹, Andreas Wagner¹, Stephan Winnerl¹, Rong Xiang¹, and Sebastian Maehrlein^1,2 — ¹Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden — ²TU Dresden

Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) is a unique technique for measuring structural and electronic dynamics with sub-picosecond time resolution in a pump-probe arrangement. In most state-of-the-art UED setups, beams with keV electron energy are utilized. The project presented here aims to step up to MeV electron beams with the help of a superconducting radio frequency photo electron injector (SRF gun). The most promising argument for MeV-UED is its ability to access higher-order diffraction, which provides high sensitivity to small atomic displacements. Using the current HZDR ELBE SRF electron gun in continuous wave (CW) operation with megahertz repetition rates, a first demonstration of an MeV electron diffraction is presented. This presentation will summarize the SRF gun parameters and shows the current status of the electron diffraction setup at the ELBE SRF Gun. In future, the combination of MeV-UED with high-intensity tunable THz pump beams will open up exciting new possibilities for time-resolved studies of types of light-driven ultrafast structural dynamics in quantum matter, correlated systems, and other types of complex matter.

Keywords: Ultrafast electron diffraction; MeV; superconducting radiofrequency gun; ELBE; pump probe