Speaker
Description
Brilliant x-ray sources including coherent free electron lasers at energies up to keVs, and incoherent monoenergetic Compton scattering sources at MeV energies and beyond have revolutionized a broad range of science from materials to nuclear signatures. Such sources require linacs at GeV to tens of GeV energies, and technologies to make such accelerators smaller have the potential to both greatly broaden the science accessible and to enable field applications ranging from industry to medicine and security. Ultrashort pulse lasers enable resonant excitation of plasma waves, efficiently driving structures that can accelerate particles at rates of in the range of a GeV per centimeter. Such compact electron beams are being used to develop novel compact photon sources including free electron lasers and MeV photons from Compton and Thomson scattering. Work on such sources and highlights from across the community will be discussed. The same laser pulses enable diverse other applications including ion sources and future colliders. While these experiments are proving the building blocks, laser development holds the key to scaling to the repetition rate and precision required for applications. Related areas of accelerator science and technology will also be described.
