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Department of Energy Workshop on “Laser Technology for Accelerators” 
January 23 - 25, 2013
Embassy Suites, Napa Valley, California


Lasers play an increasingly important role in accelerator performance and are expected to provide the foundation for new techniques to make future facilities even more flexible and powerful. For example, they are currently used to produce polarized beam in an ion source, strip excess electrons from intense beams of H– ions, bunch beams to permit time slicing in light sources, perform pump-probe experiments that explore molecular dynamics at unprecedentedly short time scales, determine beam bunch parameters non-destructively, and create intense wake-fields in a plasma that can accelerate a witness beam with extraordinarily high gradients. While lasers are already essential for high-performance accelerators that support fundamental science and its applications, they are even more the key to the development of future accelerators, including compact systems for medicine, industrial applications, homeland security, and discovery science. Attributes in common to all future applications include the need for one or more of the following features: high peak power (i.e., high energy in a very short pulse); high average power (i.e., high repetition rate); and high electrical efficiency (i.e., cost-effective use of wall-plug power).

To prepare for these future laser needs, the Office of High Energy Physics of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science is hosting a Community Input Workshop to gather information on possible objectives and opportunities associated with a program being considered to develop innovative accelerator-related laser technology. This workshop will identify technical challenges and opportunities specific to accelerator-based applications of laser technology and indicate R&D activities needed to achieve the desired laser performance specifications.

Attendance at the workshop will be by invitation.