Advances in Free-Electron Radiation Sources and Particle Accelerators: Current Research and Future Directions

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Interaction Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2025 | Viewed by 27

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Electronic Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Interests: terahertz technology; high power microwave technology; new particle accelerators; free electron laser theory and technology

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Guest Editor
Distinguished Researcher (Plan GenT), Institute of Materials Science, University of Valencia (ICMUV), Paterna, Spain
Interests: advanced beam dynamics studies; beam diagnostics and novel particle acceleration techniques
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
Interests: storage ring superconducting high frequency cavity; linear section room temperature high gradient accelerator cavity; new medium acceleration structure

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Guest Editor
FN-Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Frascati, Italy
Interests: beam dynamics; beam coupling impedance; linear accelerators; injection extraction kickers; RF acceleration structures; deflection cavities; and electron guns

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Free-electron radiation sources refer to electromagnetic radiation sources that are driven by free-electron beams exhibiting relatively high kinetic energies. These are typically generated by particle accelerators. Examples of these include free-electron lasers (FELs) and electromagnetic radiation sources based on transition radiation, Cherenkov radiation, and diffraction radiation (Smith–Purcell radiation). When compared with traditional laser sources, free-electron light sources exhibit the advantages of high power and broad spectral coverage, particularly across the spectral regions that traditional laser sources are unable to access, such as the terahertz, ultraviolet, and X-ray regions. This novel characteristic has a broad number of applications across multiple fields. Although these radiation schemes have been the subject of extensive research for decades, recent discoveries in the field of physics have led to increasing attention being paid to them in the past few years.

Particle accelerators find broad applications in fundamental scientific research and cutting-edge technologies. The conventional particle accelerator, using microwave technology, has encountered difficulties related to its high cost and large equipment. New designs for particle accelerators, such as the laser plasma wakefield accelerator, the laser dielectric accelerator, and the terahertz accelerator, have been proposed and trialed recently. These new accelerators can greatly increase the acceleration gradient and reduce the size of required equipment, indicating promising options for developing compact particle accelerators for the next generation.

This research topic will provide a platform for collating the latest research results, including theories, techniques, and applications, with respect to the following related topics.

The areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Free-electron-driven coherent electromagnetic sources, including vacuum electron devices and free-electron lasers;
  • Electromagnetic pulse radiation driven by electron beams, including transition radiation, Cherenkov radiation, and diffraction radiation;
  • Accelerator on a chip, dielectric laser accelerators, and acceleration structures.
  • Terahertz-driven accelerators, terahertz electron-guns, terahertz/microwave wakefield accelerators, other new guns, and advanced particle acceleration concepts;
  • Electron bunch manipulation, laser free-electron beam modulation, and ultrafast electron-beam generation.

Prof. Dr. Weihao Liu
Dr. Javier Resta-Lopez
Dr. Yelong Wei
Dr. David Alesini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • free-electron beam
  • electromagnetic radiation
  • light sources
  • laser-driven particle acceleration
  • laser free-electron beam interaction

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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