Design Concept for a THz Driven Streak Camera With Ultra High Resolution

The resolution of streak camera systems strongly depends on the slew rate of the deflecting element, being proportional to the amplitude and the frequency of the deflector. An attractive approach to reach femto and even sub-femto second resolution are THz driven electron streak cameras, which have been only recently proposed. Here, the ultra fast streaking field is generated by exciting a suitable resonant THz antenna, e.g. a split ring resonator with an intense THz pulse [1]. With today’s THz sources streak field amplitudes in excess of 1 GV/m are within reach. Here, we present the concept for a proof of principle system. The THz pulse will be generated by rectifying the pulse from an existing 800 nm laser system in a suitable crystal as LiNbO3 [2]. For the source of the electron beam to be streaked, we plan to use an RF photo gun yielding a relativistic 6.5 MeV beam. We describe the setup of the system and present simulations of the beam dynamics.