PEARL — Periodically bent crystals for crystalline undulators

Results in brief

Periodically bent crystals for crystalline undulators

The PEARL project aimed at a technological advance towards realisation of a novel light source (LS) by means of a Crystalline Undulator (CU), a periodically bent crystal together with a beam of relativistic positrons or electrons which move in through the crystal along its planes (such a motion is called ‘channeling’) following the periodic bending of the planes. Periodicity of the trajectory gives rise to a powerful CU radiation (CUR). Its wavelength, energy and intensity can be varied by changing the beam energy, the bending amplitude and period. CU can provide electromagnetic radiation in the photon energy range 1−10 MeV (gamma-rays) of the intensity which is inaccessible to conventional LSs such as synchrotrons, magnetic undulators and X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFEL). The development of LS is a challenging goal of modern physics. Once constructed and become operational, the radiation from these LSs will have many applications in the basic sciences, technology and medicine. They may have a revolutionary impact on nuclear and solid-state physics, as well as on the life sciences. Accordingly, the practical realisation of functional CU devices requires well elaborated novel technologies for the precise manufacturing and characterisation of periodically bent crystalline structures, and the validation of the device operational capacities with high quality accelerated particle beam experiments. Construction of novel CLSs is an extremely challenging task which constitutes a highly interdisciplinary field. To accomplish this task, a broad collaboration is needed of research groups with different but mutually complementary expertise, such as material science, nanotechnology, parti-cle beam and accelerator physics, radiation physics, X-ray diffraction imaging, acoustics, solid state physics, structure determination, advanced computational modeling methods and algorithms, high-performance computing as well as industries specializing in manufacturing of crystalline structures and in design and construction of complete accelerator systems.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The PEARL project aims at advancing the technologies for manufacturing of high quality Periodically Bent Crystals (PBCr). The PBCr developed in the course of this project will be utilised for the construction of novel light sources of high-energy (hν≥102 keV up to GeV range) monochromatic electromagnetic radiation by means of a Crystalline Undulator (CU) [1]. The technological and experimental part of this project will be accompanied by the complimentary advanced theoretical research utilising modern theoretical, computational and modelling methods accomplished with high performance computing techniques. A broad interdisciplinary, international collaboration has been created in the frame of FP7 PIRSES-CUTE project, which was focused on initial experimental tests of the CU idea and the related theory, for review see [1]. This project has been successfully completed in March 2015 and left the matter experimentally validated to a degree that is tantalising, requiring further experimentation. In particular CUTE elucidated the demand on manufacturing PBCrs of an exceptional lattice quality, their experimental characterisation and exposure against the high quality beams of ultra-relativistic electrons and positrons for the observation of the strong coherent effects in the photon emission process. PEARL will focus on solving the whole complex of the important technological, experimental and theoretical problems aiming to achieve the major breakthrough in this important research area. The PEARL international collaboration is extended with respect to CUTE and involves the new partners with the essential, necessary, complementary expertise and experimental facilities. The PEARL research programme is highly collaborative and requiring numerous exchange visits between the involved laboratories, joint workshops and conferences. Therefore, RISE type of project is the most suitable for strengthening of this very essential, ongoing, international collaborative research.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

MBN RESEARCH CENTER GGMBH · GLASHUETTENCoordinatorGermany
AARHUS UNIVERSITET · Aarhus CDenmark
EUROPEAN SYNCHROTRON RADIATION FACILITY · GrenobleFrance
INSTITUT JADERNYH PROBLEM BELORUSSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO UNIVERSITETA · MinskBelarus
ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI FISICA NUCLEARE · FrascatiItaly
JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ · MainzGermany
PETER THE GREAT SAINT PETERSBURG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY · SAINT PETERSBURGRussia
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY · Milton KeynesUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FERRARA · FerraraItaly
UNIVERSITE PAUL SABATIER TOULOUSE III · Toulouse Cedex 9France
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG · JohannesburgSouth Africa

PEARL · Periodically bent crystals for crystalline undulators

Results in brief

Periodically bent crystals for crystalline undulators

Project objective

Participants

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