The 4th generation light source - the X-ray free electron laser - has revolutionized the way science at the nano-to-mesoscale is done. UCLA researchers have played a key role in this development, and which is moving to a new phase: the birth of what is known as the 5th generation light source - an ultra-compact FEL or similar scheme that is driven by a beam derived from an advanced accelerator, a new class of accelerator based on lasers, plasmas, wakefields and exotic structures. We discuss the characteristics of such a system, beginning with an overview of FEL gain mechanisms, noting that the future will bring low charge beams with extreme hig brightness and temporal scales down to the attosecond level. These attributers also are synergistic with the characteristics of advanced accelerators which must operate at quite small accelerating wavelength, demanding small charges and short pulses. In order to fully exploit such beams, a compact FEL system must also reimagine the undulator to utilize very short periods. This in turn fundamentally changes the FEL interaction, bringing it to the threshold of the quantum regime, as well as the Raman regime, in which even for X-ray FELs the longitudinal space charge fields play a dominant role. We highlight in this talk a few of the leading 5th generation light source techniques that are currently under active development.
Speaker: Prof. James Rosenzweig, UCLA Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Coffee / tea will be served after the seminar
ATS Seminars Organisers:
H. Burkhardt (BE) T. Stora (EN), G. De Rijk (TE)
