entschke Lectures

Every year, DESY organizes a lecture in memory of Professor Dr. Willibald Jentschke (held in English)

DESY Lecture Series in Memory of Professor Dr. Willibald Jentschke. Professor Willibald Jentschke was the founder and first director of DESY in Hamburg and remained in this position until 1970. He laid the foundation for a laboratory playing an outstanding role in research based on accelerators. His knowledge, competence, vision and personality shaped DESY until today. Willibald Jentschke passed away on 11 March 2002, a few months after his 90th birthday. Starting in 2002 DESY will organise annual lectures in memory of Willibald Jentschke.

Lecture 2010

“The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS):
Accelerator Physics Challenges of Free-Electron Lasers”
17 November 2010
17:00 h
DESY Auditorium

Professor Dr. Paul Emma
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Menlo Park, CA, USA

Professor Dr. Paul Emma
(Photo: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Free-electron lasers (FEL) are opening up new scientific opportunities in atomic physics, chemistry, biology, and many other fields of research, and are capable of imaging the structure and dynamics of matter at atomic size and time scales. This new class of 4th generation light source also creates new demands on electron beam quality from accelerators, including high energy, low emittance, and ultra-short bunch lengths. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC is presently meeting these demands, delivering coherent x-rays with Angstrom-wavelengths and femtosecond-pulse durations to a growing list of researchers. This presentation introduces the LCLS, its operational characteristics, and also surveys the key accelerator physics challenges of this revolutionary new type of light source.