Formation of ultrashort electron pulses in an electrostatic laser reflectron-deflector

The temporal compression of photoelectron pulses obtained by irradiation of the target by femtosecond electron pulses is analysed by using an electrostatic reflectron with a deflecting pulse laser field. It is shown that the use of a reflectron-deflector allows one both to generate and deflect ultrashort, ∼30-fs electron pulses with a countable number of electrons by focusing them into a given region with a focal size about tens of microns. It is found that the laser ponderomotive potential can play a role of a dispersive element in the electrostatic reflectron to spatially separate the electron pulses with different energies. (ultrashort electron pulses)