Attosecond electron microscopy and diffraction.

Advances in attosecond spectroscopy have enabled tracing and controlling the electron motion dynamics in matter, although they have yielded insufficient information about the electron dynamic in the space domain. Hence, ultrafast electron and x-ray imaging tools have been developed to image the ultrafast dynamics of matter in real time and space. The cutting-edge temporal resolution of these imaging tools is on the order of a few tens to a hundred femtoseconds, limiting imaging to the atomic dynamics and leaving electron motion imaging out of reach.

Ultrafast optical switching and data encoding on synthesized light fields.

Modern electronics are founded on switching the electrical signal by radio frequency electromagnetic fields on the nanosecond time scale, limiting the information processing to the gigahertz speed. Recently, optical switches have been demonstrated using terahertz and ultrafast laser pulses to control the electrical signal and enhance the switching speed to the picosecond and a few hundred femtoseconds time scale. Here, we exploit the reflectivity modulation of the fused silica dielectric system in a strong light field to demonstrate the optical switching (ON/OFF) with attosecond time resolution.

Attosecond electronic delay response in dielectric materials.

The advancement in the attosecond field and the generation of XUV attosecond pulses has enabled the study of electron dynamics in the solid-state by high harmonic generation spectroscopy. Here, we introduce new all-optical attosecond metrology to study the light-field induced electron dynamics in dielectric systems. This new methodology is based on the phase transition of a dielectric material due to its interaction with a strong light field.

Imaging rotational dynamics of nanoparticles in liquid by 4D electron microscopy.

In real time and space, four-dimensional electron microscopy (4D EM) has enabled observation of transient structures and morphologies of inorganic and organic materials. We have extended 4D EM to include liquid cells without the time resolution being limited by the response of the detector. Our approach permits the imaging of the motion and morphological dynamics of a single, same particle on nanometer and ultrashort time scales.