We work on coupling light and electrons in various settings, most of them in the ultrafast domain. Both inside graphene and at the surface of needletips, we investigate how electrons can be steered with intense phase-controlled few-cycle laser pulses. We have found that on attosecond and femtosecond times scales, electrons behave fully coherently. With these insights, we are now pursuing light-wave electronics, i.e., electronics at petahertz bandwidth, as well as electron quantum optics. Similarly, individual electrons in a beam of free can be efficiently coupled to light with the help of nanostructures. We have shown for the first time that electrons inside a scanning electron microscope can be coherently coupled to light fields. This allows another route in quantum electron optics, with a plethora of potential experiments and applications now feasible. Last but certainly not least, the classical version of coupling electrons and nanostructures naturally leads to the nanophotonic particle accelerator, a device we are working on heavily.

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