Mission Statement

We are pleased to announce the latest in the series of ICFA-endorsed workshops on the Physics and Applications of High Brightness Beams will be held at the Aquila Rithymna Hotel, in Rethimno, Crete, on the dates April 8-12, 2019. The hosting this event in this historically compelling site is motivated both by a continuing commitment to outreach in our field , to include a wider range of participants, specifically those from nations new to the field of high brightness beams (themes pursued in the last version of the workshop in Havana, Cuba https://conferences.pa.ucla.edu/hbb/), and to emphasize the unique utility of these beams in cultural heritage applications.

This workshop series has served for two decades as a focused meeting exploring the physics of high brightness electron and ion beams, as well as the associated experimental, computational and theoretical methods. As such beams possess cutting edge characteristics – in time-scales to the attosecond level, and with collective fields approaching TV/m – they have both inherent physical aspects and significant applied impact in a widening cross-section of fields, ranging from high energy density physics to ultra-fast atomic-molecular-optical phenomena, and beyond. This workshop provides a venue to bring together the various disciplines that investigate and develop modern beam systems, and to discuss how these beams may be employed for these compelling new scientific applications. As a consequence of progress in science based on high brightness beams, opportunities for industrial, medical and cultural applications as well.

As such, in this version of Physics and Applications of High Brightness Beams, we plan to recognize two significant emerging trends in applications: the use of beam-based techniques in advanced manufacturing methods – with most notable impact in the semiconductor industry; and, as mentioned above in cultural heritage investigations. With the unique historical of this year’s host nation, the use of advanced methods enabled by beams, from direct imaging using electron microscopes, to synchrotron X-rays for uncovering the provenance of antiquities is a compelling area to examine in our community.

The application of synchrotron radiation has drawn much attention in this workshop series. In the most recent incarnations, an ambitious agenda emerged, the effective joining advanced acceleration techniques and novel light sources into one common area: the “5th generation light source”. This synthesis entails creating extremely compact, high brilliance short wavelength radiations sources enabled by beams accelerated in ultra-high gradient accelerators based on plasmas, lasers and intense beams; these beams in turn feed innovative, short period undulators. The advanced accelerators operate at unprecedented high fields, to above the GV/m level, and produce beams having extremely challenging length and time scales — microns and femtoseconds, respectively. Both the beam physics and revolutionary applications implied by the 5th generation light source require rethinking of the principles and experimental methods employed.

Since the Havana workshop, a number of new initiatives have been adopted that are dedicated to the rapid adoption this exciting new scenario, aiming to yield a new type of compact light source within a decade: these range from physics demonstration experiments aimed at proof-of-principle, to programs such as EuPRAXIA that seek to design user facilities that may fully exploit the exciting developments in this frontier field. In turn, this effort will give momentum and focus to the maturation of 5th generation light source methods, and as such may be viewed as an critical milestone on the road to higher energy applications such as the linear collider.

While the majority of work in this field is performed in the context of linear systems, it is notable that high impact approaches to storage rings have recently emerged that introduced exciting new capabilities; these include nonlinear integrable optics and new techniques in synchrotrons such as multi-bend achromats. High brightness beam physics and technology is a rapidly growing field in itself, and we welcome the addition of a number of participants from an NSF Science and Technology Center, the Center for Bright Beams, a collaboration that embraces research into both linear and circular bright beam systems.

Thus we are searching in this workshop to gather leaders in: advanced and novel acceleration techniques; the intricate physics and technology of light sources; high brightness beam physics — including those developing cutting edge concepts such as plasma-based electron beam sources; interdisciplinary researchers who have direct interest in two or more of these fields; and experts in the applied fields most strongly impacted by high brightness beam science. We hope in particular to "shed light" on the burgeoning field of cultural heritage scientific investigations.

The conference proceedings will be published as a special issue of the journal Instruments (see https://www.mdpi.com/journal/instruments/special_issues). Before publication, the manuscripts will undergo a peer reviewing process under the editorial supervision of Alessandro Cianchi (Univ. Tor Vergata) and Young-Kee Kim (Univ. Chicago). This proceedings issue will document the rapid developments achieved during the last several years in the high brightness beam community.

James Rosenzweig, UCLA (Workshop Co-Chair)
Massimo Ferrario, INFN-LNF (Workshop Co-Chair)
Evangelos Gazis (Local chair)