Channeling and Radiation in Periodically Bent Crystals

the long version

<p>The development of coherent radiation sources for sub-angstrom wavelengths - i.e. in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray range - is a challenging goal of modern physics. The availability of such sources will have many applications in basic science, technology and medicine, and, in particular, they may have a revolutionary impact on nuclear and solid state physics, as well as on the life sciences.<br>The present state-of-the-art lasers are capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation from the infrared to the ultraviolet, while free electron lasers (X-FELs) are now entering the soft X-ray region. Moving further, i.e. into the hard X and/or gamma ray band, however, is not possible without new approaches and technologies.<br> <br>In this book we introduce and discuss one such novel approach: the focus is on the radiation formed in a <i>Crystalline Undulator</i>, where electromagnetic radiation is generated by a bunch of ultra-relativistic particles channeling through a periodically bent crystalline structure. It is shown that under certain conditions, such a device emits intensive spontaneous monochromatic radiation and may even reach the coherence of laser light sources.<br> <br>Readers will be presented with the underlying fundamental physics and be familiarized with the theoretical, experimental and technological advances made during the last one and a half decades in exploring the various features of investigations into crystalline undulators. This research draws upon knowledge from many research fields - such as materials science, beam physics, the physics of radiation, solid state physics and acoustics, to name but a few. Accordingly, much care has been taken by the authors to make the book as self-contained as possible in this respect, so as to also provide a useful introduction to this emerging field to a broad readership of researchers and scientist with various backgrounds.<br><br></p>