My research focuses on free-electron-driven nanophotonics, including free-electron radiation and the interaction of free electrons with the near-field of light. I aim to develop mechanisms to enhance the coupling strength between free electrons and light, and deepen our understanding of quantum phenomena in this field. Beyond fundamental investigations, I strive to propose new applications that leverage advances in quantum materials and quantum technologies.

I aim to investigate novel phenomena that are beyond the current understanding in the field of free-electron optics. Specifically, I am interested in exploring the radiation generated by quantum electrons. The quantum properties of free electrons have been extensively studied in the context of electron microscopy, particularly since Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail’s pioneering research on the interaction between free electrons and the near-field of light in 2009. In the quantum regime, electrons display wave-like properties, such as coherence and phase, rather than behaving as discrete particles. The impact of these quantum properties on radiation remains incompletely understood, and I aim to leverage these aspects to generate novel electron radition phenomena and revolutionize the next generation of compact light sources.

Control over light waves in the visible and infrared regimes is ubiquitous in a vast range of applications, and typically relies on widely available optical components. However, analogous optical elements for X-rays are usually inefficient and challenging to fabricate. We propose generating shaped X-rays directly from free electrons interacting with nanomaterials. X-ray focused beam and Airy beams have proposed, mediated by van der Waals heterostructures. Looking forward, we aim to develop novel schemes that help bypass the noted limitations of current X-ray optics technology.

The current technology for generating quantum light mainly relies on the nonlinearity of materials, which limits the available spectrum of quantum light states. Free electrons can also act as nonlinear media during their interaction with light, such as in Compton scattering and free-electron radiation. Recent investigations of free-electron radiation treat this process as the scattering of entangled electron-photon pairs, giving rise to a new field called free-electron quantum optics. In this field, quantum light can be heralded by post-selecting the electron, for example, in energy space. One significant advantage of this approach is the ability to generate quantum light in regimes, such as the X-ray regime, that are inaccessible or challenging for traditional methods.