Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Lasers for Bright X-Rays

Sponsoring University:

Michigan State University

Course Name:

Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Lasers for Bright X-Rays
This class is limited to 20 students.

Instructors:

Zhirong Huang, SLAC; Ryan Lindberg, Argonne National Lab; Siqi Li, University of Hawaii; Alex Halavanau, SLAC

Purpose and Audience
This graduate-level course is an introduction to the physics of high-brightness x-ray beams, the performance of which has been significantly increased through the use of insertion devices in synchrotron radiation facilities and by the development of various free electron laser (FEL) techniques for x-rays: high-gain self-amplified spontaneous emission, high-gain harmonic generation, and oscillators. Specifically, the course is designed toward graduate students, scientists, and engineers who are interested in the physics and technology for the production of x-ray photons in the form of synchrotron radiation and FELs.

Prerequisites
Upper division undergraduate courses in classical mechanics including special relativity (e.g., at the level of Classical Mechanics, by John R. Taylor) and in electromagnetism (at the level of Introduction to Electrodynamics by David J. Griffiths) is required. Familiarity with accelerator physics at the level of the USPAS course Fundamentals of Accelerator Physics and Technology with Simulations and Measurements Lab, or higher, is required. 

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet the course prerequisites or have equivalent experience.

Instructional Method
The course consists of daily lectures and guided problem and simulation laboratory sessions). The problem and simulation lab sessions will be used to: assign and explain homework, demonstrate some FEL dynamics using a provided 1D Matlab code, and to introduce the student to common 2D and 3D codes such as GENESIS and GINGER.  Instructors and TAs will be available to provide help with regularly assigned problem sets.   

Course Content
This course will start with an introduction to incoherent and coherent radiation sources and the quest for higher brightness. Lectures will include spontaneous radiation by an ultra-relativistic electron beam in bending magnets and undulators. Lectures on FEL will include electron motion in an undulator in the presence of a radiation beam, low- and high-gain regimes of FEL, one-dimensional analysis using Maxwell-Vlasov equations, self-amplified spontaneous emission, three-dimensional effects, numeric simulations, harmonic generation and FEL oscillators. The course will conclude with discussions of current X-ray FEL facilities and advanced schemes such as attosecond pulse generation, self-seeding and cavity-based X-ray FELs.

Reading Requirements
(To be provided by the USPAS) “Synchrotron Radiation and Free-Electron Lasers: Principles of Coherent X-Ray Generation,” by Kwang-Je Kim, Zhirong Huang, and Ryan Lindberg, Cambridge University Press (2017).

Credit Requirements
Students will be evaluated based on daily homework assignments (80%), and a final presentation (20%).

USPAS Computer Requirements
There will be no Computer Lab and all participants are required to bring their own portable computer to access online course notes and computer resources. This can be a laptop or a tablet with a sufficiently large screen and keyboard. Windows, Mac, and Linux-based systems that are wifi capable and have a standard web browser and mouse are all acceptable. You should have privileges for software installs. If you are unable to bring a computer, please contact uspas@fnal.gov ASAP to request a laptop loan. Very limited IT support and spare loaner laptops will be available during the session.

Michigan State University course number:
Indiana University course number: Physics 571, Special Topics in Accelerator Physics
MIT course number: 8.790 Accelerator Physics

USPAS Code of Conduct