Welcome to the CompactLight Project



The EU-funded CompactLight design study, launched by a team of 22 International Laboratories and two Industries in January 2018, brings together world experts in the fields of accelerators and magnetic structures for photon production. The objective is to use the most innovative technologies for the implementation of the main components of an FEL: high brightness photo-injectors of the last generation, compact and very high-gradient X-band accelerating structures to increase the global efficiency of the machine as well as state-of-the-art undulators, to be able to produce high-energy photons at lower electron beam energies in comparison with current machines.


With CompactLight we intend to design a hard X-ray FEL facility beyond today’s state of the art, using the latest concepts for bright electron photoinjectors, very high-gradient X-band structures at 12 GHz, and innovative compact short-period undulators. If compared to existing facilities, the proposed facility will benefit from a lower electron beam energy, due to the enhanced undulator performance, be significantly more compact, as a consequence both the lower energy and of the high-gradient X-band structures have a much lower electrical power demand and a smaller footprint.


Synchrotron light is electromagnetic radiation generated by charged particles travelling at speeds close to the speed of light that move along curved trajectories due to the effect of magnetic fields. This radiation, which for all intents and purposes is a light with wavelengths ranging from infrared to X-rays (i.e., with wavelengths of the order of microns to Angstroms), has some characteristics that make it unique: it is billions of times brighter than the one generated by conventional sources and allows a broad range of applications, both in research and industry.

CompactLight | News




last update May 12, 2021, at 03:24 PM Andrea Latina