U.S. Particle Accelerator School
Free Electron Lasers course
Sponsoring University:
University of California San Diego
Course:
Free Electron Lasers
Instructor:
John M. J. Madey, Duke University
This course is intended to highlight the basic physical principles responsible for the generation and amplification of intense, tunable, coherent light in undulators and free electron lasers. Topics to be covered include the normal mode description of the electromagnetic field and the special role played by Gaussian optical modes in the description of FELs, the role of the quantized vacuum in the statistics of emission and amplification, and the generic, qualitative aspects of strong field operation. The analytical and numerical methods currently available for use in the detailed analysis of these systems will also be surveyed. There will be tutorials on special relativity and Maxwell's equations. The course requires basic knowledge of integral and differential calculus, classical mechanics including the Lorentz force law, and electromagnetism.