Boosting laser power - The FEL's research potential ranges from fusion energy to cancer

The status of FEL research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories is reviewed, and some potential applications are examined. The history of laser development is traced; the operating principles of FELs are outlined; and the importance of tapered undulators in extending FEL output beyond 200 MW and increasing energy-extraction efficiency from 5 to 40 percent is stressed. The use of such FELs to heat plasma in nuclear fusion reactors or as the microwave source for a proposed two-beam accelerator is considered.