Accelerator physics and light source research program at duke university
The accelerator physics and light source research program at the Duke Free-Electron Laser Laboratory, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, is focused on the development of the storage ring based free-electron lasers (FELs), and a state-of-the-art Compton gamma-ray source, the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HIGS). Driven by the storage ring FEL, the HIGS is the world's most intense Compton gamma-ray source with a maximum total flux of a few 1010 γ/s (around 10 MeV). Operated in the energy range from 1 to 100 MeV, the HIGS is a premier nuclear physics research facility in the world. In 2012, we completed a major accelerator upgrade project with the installation of a wiggler switchyard system which allows changeovers between two planar and two helical FEL wigglers in the middle of the FEL section. In this paper, we report the light source R&D activities related to the wiggler switchyard project and VUV FEL lasing, and provide a summary of the accelerator physics research program at the laboratory. Copyright © 2013 by JACoW.
