503. WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Free Electron Lasers - from Fundamentals to Applications

Free-electron lasers (FEL) have recently received a lot of attention, mainly due to the development of short-wavelength free-electron lasers such as FLASH in Hamburg operating in the deep UV, and the worldwide first X-ray free-electron laser LCLS in Stanford, USA. Yet free-electron lasers in the longer-wavelength infrared and terahertz regions, like FELBE in Dresden or FELIX in the Netherlands have been operating already for two decades and contributed a wealth of results in various scientific fields.

Common to all free-electron lasers is their wide wavelength tunability by more than a decade, which makes them the light source of choice when no other coherent sources are available in a specific wavelength range.

The goals of the seminar are to
familiarize students and young postdocs with the basic physical concepts and mechanism of FELs,
discuss the spectacular possibilities recently developed short-wavelength FELs offer for research in fields like biology, atomic and solid state physics,
present highlights of research long-wavelength FELs have contributed to in the past decade in the fields of solid state and molecular physics.
Scientific organizers
Manfred Helm, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Michael Gensch, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Josef Feldhaus, DESY Hamburg

General organization: Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation

This seminar is funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.