Free Electron Lasers 1996

The introductory papers provide the scenario of the existing and planned sources, covering the range of the E.M. spectrum from X-ray to microwaves, and provide an account of the impressive scientific and technological effort afforded by western and eastern countries. The FEL sources in the IR and long wavelength part of the spectrum can be considered fully mature technological tools for various types of applications. A number of new facilities have been set up in the mid-infrared region, providing well in excess of 10,000h of total annual beam time for scientific application. Storage based FELs are also developing towards high levels of reliability. Storage ring FELs have confirmed their importance. The progress made in these and other areas is documented by the large amount of papers presented in this field both on cathode design and on the analysis of the mechanism of beam degradation.

Finally, experiments based on intracavity FEL radiation Compton backscattering have been presented and the possibility of obtaining high flux &ggr;- or X-rays with applications ranging from nuclear physics to cancer therapy has been stressed.