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Laser wakefields

Bringing accelerators down to size

Laser-based accelerator technology has been given a boost thanks to researchers based in Korea, Japan and the USA. Their latest research could lead the way towards compact accelerators that can deliver brilliant electron and X-ray beams.

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Figure 1: A comparison of accelerators.
Figure 2: Use of a laser wakefield to generate intense, coherent attosecond X-rays.

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Tajima, T. Bringing accelerators down to size. Nature Photon 2, 526–527 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.167

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