WORKSHOP ON SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS OF THE LCLS
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, January
12-14, 1999
I. Lindau and J. Arthur, principal organizers
INTRODUCTION
Free electron lasers are now being designed which
will operate at wavelengths down to about 1 Å. These machines, which
rely on high-energy electron accelerator technology, are often referred
to as the fourth generation in the development of sources of synchrotron
radiation. Due to the physics of the high-gain, single-pass FEL process,
the radiation produced will have unique properties. In particular:
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The FEL peak intensity and peak brightness will be many
orders of magnitude higher than can be produced by any other source.
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The pulse length will be less than 1 picosecond, orders
of magnitude shorter than can be achieved with any other bright source
such as a synchrotron.
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The FEL radiation will be highly coherent, with a degeneracy
parameter (photons/coherence volume) equal to 109 or more. No
other source can produce hard x-radiation with a degeneracy parameter significantly
greater than 1.
These source properties so exceed those of any existing
x-ray source that predicting the applications of an x-ray FEL is not an
easy task. Several workshops over the last 8 years have addressed this
issue [1-4] and many possible applications have been discussed, but as
yet there is no clear consensus as to which will be most scientifically
rewarding. This latest workshop was convened to provide an opportunity
for participants to study in depth the applications of the proposed LCLS
free electron laser x-ray source in several scientific fields. A design
study has been carried out for this source [5], providing detailed calculations
of the expected characteristics of the FEL radiation and the experimental
environment. The fields chosen for examination at this workshop were closely
related, inviting cross-fertilization of ideas. The goal of the workshop
was to help clarify the most exciting applications of the LCLS, and the
necessary scientific development path toward realizing these applications.
More than ?? participants attended, from ?? countries.
The workshop structure included invited plenary talks on the state of the
art of several relevant x-ray techniques, tutorial talks on the LCLS and
its radiation, and working group sessions focused around four characteristics
of the LCLS radiation: its high peak power, high spatial coherence, high
degeneracy, and very short pulse length. These working groups each produced
a report at the end of the workshop.
A strong effort was made throughout the workshop
to use realistic, conservative source parameters. Members of the LCLS design
study team participated in all of the working group sections, giving a
very productive, close interaction between applications scientists and
source designers.
Included in this online version of the proceedings
are the four working group reports.
REFERENCES
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J. Arthur, G. Materlik, and H. Winick, eds., Workshop
on Scientific Applications of Coherent X-Rays, SLAC Report 437 (1994).
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J.-L. Laclare, ed., 4th Generation Light
Sources, ESRF (1996).
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J. Schneider, ed., X-Ray Free Electron Laser Applications,
DESY (1996).
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M. Knotek, J. Arthur, F. Dylla, and E. Johnson, eds.,
Workshop on Scientific Opportunities for Fourth Generation Light Sources,
Argonne (1997).
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LCLS Design Study Report, SLAC Report 521 (1998).
[available online at http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcld/design_report/e-toc.html]
WORKING GROUP REPORTS
Subpicosecond Time-resolved X-ray Measurements
Photon
Correlation
Spectroscopy and Holography
Non-Linear X-Ray Optical
Processes
High Field Physics and
Nonlinear Quantum Electrodynamics
with the LCLS
Workshop Agenda Workshop
Overview LCLS Home Page
Content
Owner: J. Arthur
Page Master:
L. Dunn
Last Update: 16 Nov 1999