High quality single shot ultrafast MeV electron diffraction from a photocathode radio-frequency gun.

A compact ultrafast electron diffractometer, consisting of an s-band 1.6 cell photocathode radio-frequency gun, a multi-function changeable sample chamber, and a sensitive relativistic electron detector, was built at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. High-quality single-shot transmission electron diffraction patterns have been recorded by scattering 2.5 MeV electrons off single crystalline gold and polycrystalline aluminum samples. The high quality diffraction pattern indicates an excellent spatial resolution, with the ratio of the diffraction ring radius over the ring rms width beyond 10. The electron pulse width is estimated to be about 300 fs. The high temporal and spatial resolution may open new opportunities in various areas of sciences.