Beams to order from table-top accelerators
Monday, August 22, 2011 - 15:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Laser plasma accelerators offer the potential to create powerful electron beams within a fraction of the space required by conventional accelerators and at a fraction of the cost. Their promise for the future includes not only compact high-energy colliders for fundamental physics but diminutive sources of intensely bright beams of light, spanning the spectrum from microwaves to gamma rays a new kind of ultrafast light source for investigating new materials, biological structures, and green chemistry. Compared to today's giant science facilities, "table-top" laser plasma accelerators may eventually be able to do equally powerful research with minimal environmental impact.