This book discusses possibilities and perspectives for designing and practical realization of novel intensive gamma-ray crystal-based light sources that can be constructed through exposure of oriented crystals—linear, bent and periodically bent, to beams of ultrarelativistic positrons and electrons. The book shows case studies like the tunable light sources based on periodically bent crystals that can be designed with the state-of-the-art beam facilities. A special focus is given to the analysis of generation of the gamma rays because the current technologies based on particle motion in the magnetic field become inefficient or incapable to achieve the desired gamma rays’ intensities. It is demonstrated that the intensity of radiation from crystal-based light sources can be made comparable to or even higher than what is achievable in conventional synchrotrons and undulators operating although in the much lower photon energy range. By exploring the coherence effects, the intensity can be boosted by orders of magnitude. The practical realization of such novel light sources will lead to the significant technological breakthroughs and societal impacts similar to those created earlier by the developments of lasers, synchrotrons and X-rays free-electron lasers. Readers learn about the underlying fundamental physics and familiarize with the theoretical, experimental and technological advances made during last two decades in exploring various features of investigations into crystal-based light sources. This research draws upon knowledge from many research fields, such as material science, beam physics, physics of radiation, solid-state physics and acoustics, to name but a few. The authors provide a useful introduction in this emerging field to a broad readership of researchers and scientists with various backgrounds and, accordingly, make the book as self-contained as possible.

This book presents the structure formation and dynamics of animate and inanimate matter on the nanometre scale. This is a new interdisciplinary field known as Meso-Bio-Nano (MBN) science that lies at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology and material science. Special attention in the book is devoted to investigations of the structure, properties and dynamics of complex MBN systems by means of photonic, electronic, heavy particle and atomic collisions. This includes problems of fusion and fission, fragmentation, surfaces and interfaces, reactivity, nanoscale phase and morphological transitions, irradiation-driven transformations of complex molecular systems, collective electron excitations, radiation damage and biodamage, channeling phenomena and many more. Emphasis in the book is placed on the theoretical and computational physics research advances in these areas and related state-of-the-art experiments. Particular attention in the book is devoted to the utilization of advanced computational techniques and high-performance computing in studies of the dynamics of systems.

The high scienti?c interest in coherent X-ray light sources has stimulated world-wide e?orts in developing X-ray lasers. In this book a particularly promising approach is described, the free-electron laser (FEL), which is p- sued worldwide and holds the promise to deliver ultra-bright X-ray pulses of femtosecond duration. Other types of X-ray lasers are not discussed nor do we try a comparison of the relative virtues and drawbacks of di?erent concepts. The book has an introductory character and is written in the style of a universitytextbookforthemanynewcomerstothe?eldoffree-electronlasers, graduate students as well as accelerator physicists, engineers and technicians; it is not intended to be a scienti?c monograph for the experts in the ?eld. Building on lectures by one of us (J. R.) at the CERN Accelerator School, and motivated by the positive response to a series of seminars on “FEL t- ory for pedestrians”, given by P. S. within the framework of the Academic Training Program at DESY, we have aimed at presenting the theory of the low-gainandthehigh-gainFELinaclearandconcisemathematicallanguage. Particular emphasis is put on explaining and justifying the assumptions and approximations that are needed to obtain the di?erential equations descr- ing the FEL dynamics. Although we have tried our best to be “simple”, the mathematical derivations are certainly not always as simple as one would like them to be. However, we are not aware of any easier approach to the FEL theory. Some of the more involved calculations are put into the appendices.

The purpose of this book is to give a description of the state of the art in theoretical and experimental work achieved in radiation source development. It summarizes clearly and comprehensibly, the basic physical aspects needed to understand the phenomena, and also provides the interested reader with sufficient literature to be able to follow the development in more detail. In addition, it contains a unified view of most theoretical effects and their common properties. The most recent developments as well as references to further work can be found in this volume. In many cases, review articles and textbooks published in specialized areas are also incorporated into the text.

The ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses provided by X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) open up opportunities to study the structure and dynamics of a wide variety of systems beyond what is possible with synchrotron sources. This book introduces the principles and properties of currently operating and future XFELs, before outlining applications in materials science, chemistry and biology. Edited by pioneers in this exciting field, and featuring contributions from leading researchers, this book is ideal for researchers working with XFELs, synchrotron radiation, ultrafast and femtosecond crystallography and femtosecond spectroscopy.

This is the first ever compendium of double photoionisation spectra, covering some 70 of the most important small and medium sized molecules and thus providing an essential starting point for studies of the consequences of ionisation by high energy photons in both terrestrial and astrophysical environments. It also provides a complete non-mathematical description of all the phenomena and pathways involved in molecular double photoionisation. Most spectra are presented with identification of the electronic states and leading orbital configurations. The technique of magnetic bottle time-of-flight electron spectroscopy, used for all the spectra, is fully explained and compared with other techniques. For each molecule, the book gives full references to relevant work by complementary techniques and to theoretical calculations. Written in a clear non-mathematical style, this book is accessible to students as well as more experienced researchers. The authors have designed the layout for easy retrieval of any desired spectrum through the systematic organisation and ordering of the compounds and thorough indexing. As well as being a compendium of spectra, the book is a textbook covering all the known phenomenological aspects of molecular double photoionisation. The important phenomena are first mentioned in the introductory chapters, and are discussed in more detail in connection with the groups of molecules and individual cases where they are most relevant. The most useful spectra will be available in digital form for users.