Free electron lasers show their power
Abstract
An evaluation is made of recent free electron laser design improvements, performance capability enhancements, and prospective application proposals. Free electron lasers are, unlike conventional lasers, in principle continuously tunable from microwave to X-ray frequencies; they also promise exceptional energy conversion efficiencies, which are essential in both industrial and military applications. Fusion energy researchers are giving attention to the heating of magnetically confined plasma through the electron cyclotron resonance effect of free electron laser-generated mm-wave radiation. Emphasis is presently given to the development pace-controlling role of particle accelerators.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- December 1984
- Bibcode:
- 1984Sci...226Q1300R
- Keywords:
-
- Energy Conversion Efficiency;
- Free Electron Lasers;
- Tunable Lasers;
- Electron Accelerators;
- Electron Beams;
- High Power Lasers;
- Millimeter Waves;
- Lasers and Masers