Logo der WE-Heaeus-Stiftung503th Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar

Free-Electron Lasers: from Fundamentals to Applications

April 10 - 13, 2012, Physikzentrum Bad Honnef

FEL-Schema

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.