Particle Accelerators:. AN Introduction

The human curiosity about the micro-world is the driving force behind the development of particle accelerators. Traced to its three roots, the history of accelerators is a continuous upgrade towards higher energy and better performance. Higher energy and higher luminosity are two frontiers of accelerator development for high energy physics. As platforms of multidisciplinary research, synchrotron radiation sources, free electron lasers, and spallation sources, are vigorously growing. Varieties of low- and medium-energy accelerators are widely applied in our society. Innovative ideas, new methods, and new technologies emerge endlessly. In this chapter, the historical evolution of particle accelerators is reviewed and their prospects are described.