Transverse Modulation of Continuous Electron Beams by a Structured Optical Cavity

Abstract

Compact aberration correction at large semi-angles remains a central challenge in electron microscopy. Here we propose a phase plate for continuous electron beams based on the ponderomotive interaction with an intracavity standing wave in a near-concentric Fabry--Pérot resonator. For electrons propagating along the cavity axis, a standing-wave with Laguerre-Gaussian mode of topological charge $l=1$ imprints an annular phase shift that is opposite in sign to the third-order spherical aberration of a conventional electron lens. For a \(5~\mathrm{keV}\) beam with a convergence semi-angle of \(25~\mathrm{mrad}\), we fully compensate the third-order spherical aberration of an objective lens with \(C_\mathrm{s}=1~\mathrm{mm}\), yielding the transverse width of the corrected probe in the focus of \(σ_\mathrm{p}=1.4~\mathrmÅ\). The accessible transverse electron phases are set by the supported resonator modal basis and its coherent superpositions.