Dielectric laser acceleration of electrons in the vicinity of single and double grating structures—theory and simulations

Dielectric laser acceleration of electrons close to a fused-silica grating has recently been observed (Peralta et al 2013 Nature 503 91 , Breuer and Hommelhoff 2013 Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 134803 ). Here we present the theoretical description of the near-fields close to such a grating that can be utilized to accelerate non-relativistic electrons. We also show simulation results of electrons interacting with such fields in a single and double grating structure geometry and discuss dephasing effects that have to be taken into account when designing a photonic-structure-based accelerator for non-relativistic electrons. We further model the space charge effect using the paraxial ray equation and discuss the resulting expected peak currents for various parameter sets.