Characterization of the 1st Mathieu stability regime in auto-ponderomotive Paul-trap-like electron guides

Schmidt-Kaler FDF, Bodendorfer N, Seidling M, Zimmermann R, Jaenicke W, Hommelhoff P (2026)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

Book Volume: 128

Article Number: 031102

Issue: 3

DOI: 10.1063/5.0279055

Abstract

We demonstrate a detailed study of the 1st Mathieu stability region for an electrostatic auto-ponderomotive electron guide. Analog to a radio frequency-driven linear quadrupole mass filter, we find a roughly triangular stability region spanning the dimensionless a-q parameters in Mathieu space. In our experiments, we achieve stable guiding for a <= 0.16 and 0.03  <= q <= 0.77. According to simulations, the pseudopotential trap depth was 0.44 eV⁠, sufficient to confine guided electrons inside the trap radius of (290  +- 2) μm. Additionally, we detect an instability inside the guiding regime, which is due to parametric nonlinear excitation and matches well with simulation results. Our detailed study substantially improves the understanding of auto-ponderomotive guiding for charged particles. Most importantly, it shows that these electron guides, indeed, behave very similar to radio frequency Paul-trap-like quadrupole mass filters, thus might enable electron-optical elements such as electron beam splitters and electron resonators.

Authors with CRIS profile

How to cite

APA:

Schmidt-Kaler, F.D.F., Bodendorfer, N., Seidling, M., Zimmermann, R., Jaenicke, W., & Hommelhoff, P. (2026). Characterization of the 1st Mathieu stability regime in auto-ponderomotive Paul-trap-like electron guides. Applied Physics Letters, 128. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0279055

MLA:

Schmidt-Kaler, F. D. F., et al. "Characterization of the 1st Mathieu stability regime in auto-ponderomotive Paul-trap-like electron guides." Applied Physics Letters 128 (2026).

BibTeX: Download