Feature
Laser Wakefield Accelerators: Next-Generation Light Sources
A new breed of compact particle accelerators, capable of producing electron-beam energies in the GeV range, could soon bring some of the experimental power of synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers to a tabletop near you.
The author (center) and colleague Brad Pollock (right) adjust a benchtop LWFA setup at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. [Courtesy of LLNL]
Particle accelerators—in which electromagnetic fields push charged particles such as electrons, protons, ions or positrons to near the speed of light—have been revolutionizing science, medicine, industry and national security for more than a century. Some 30,000 of these machines are now active around the world.
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