This book focuses on the use of novel electron microscopy techniques to further our understanding of the physics behind electron-light interactions. It introduces and discusses the methodologies for advancing the field of electron microscopy towards a better control of electron dynamics with significantly improved temporal resolutions, and explores the burgeoning field of nanooptics - the physics of light-matter interaction at the nanoscale - whose practical applications transcend numerous fields such as energy conversion, control of chemical reactions, optically induced phase transitions, quantum cryptography, and data processing.

In addition to its development of analytical and numerical techniques for exploring the theoretical basis of electron-light interactions, this book showcases some relevant case studies, such as optical modes in gold tapers probed by electron beams and investigations of optical excitations in the topological insulator Bi2Se3. The experiments described in this book provide an impetus to better develop relevant theoretical models, benchmark current approximations, and develop even more characterization tools based on coherent electron-light interactions.

Autorentext

Nahid Talebi is an associate professor at the Institute for Experimental and Applied physics of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, and a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. Her research focuses on investigating near-field-enhanced electron-photon interactions using slow and fast electron microscopes. For this purpose she is interested in the implementation of free-electron waves as high-resolution probes of nanooptical excitations, and developing time-resolved spectroscopy and space-resolved diffraction methods for investigating the photonic states in time-energy and momentum-space phase spaces. Her main interests include advancing time-resolved electron microscopy methodologies and an in-depth understanding of the dynamical interactions using time-dependent and self-consistent analytical and numerical techniques. Talebi received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Tehran in 2008 and 2011, afterwards moving to the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in 2012 as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow. In 2015 she joined the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research as a group leader, and in 2018 she was awarded the starting grant NanoBeam from the European Research Council. She has received professorship offers from the University of Tehran, University of Shahid-beheshti, and recently from the Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel. Her current research highlights include several high-impact publications, patents, and invited review papers.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Electron-Light Interactions.- Electron-Induced Domain.- Toroidal Moments Probed by Electron Beams.- Optical Modes of Gold Tapers Probed by Electron Beams.- Optical Excitations in the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3.- Photon­-Induced and Photon- Assisted Domains.- Electron Light Interactions beyond Adiabatic Approximations.