Topical Workshop on Selected Problems in FEL Physics: from Soft X-rays to THz

The 3rd edition of the international FELs of Europe event, “Topical Workshop on Selected Problems in FEL Physics: from Soft X-rays to THz", has just concluded in Grado, on the northern Adriatic Sea coast. It followed the first workshop in Dresden (2022) and the second in Hamburg (2023).

The workshop has established itself as a leading forum for the European community—while remaining open to non-European partners and competitors—covering Free-Electron Lasers (FELs) ranging from IR/THz to soft X-ray photon energies. This year’s edition was organized by Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, with Manfred Helm (HZDR), Primož Rebernik Ribič, and Simone Di Mitri (Elettra) serving as conference chairs.

The event brought together 50 experts (14 women) from 10 countries and 21 research institutions, universities, and laboratories. The program featured 23 plenary talks and 8 round tables, providing a broad and up-to-date overview of cutting-edge research in the field, as well as stimulating and constructive discussions on the present and future challenges of coherent light sources.

Conference sessions covered a wide range of topics, including:

• infrared and THz coherent sources (special operation modes, pump-probe, high field, superradiance);
• attosecond pulses in SASE FELs;
• advancements in externally seeded FELs;
• structured light in THz and VUV seeded FELs;
• electron beam and FEL pulse diagnostics, including integration with machine learning algorithms;
• microbunching instability in accelerators;
• undulator design and operational aspects of short-wavelength FELs.

Preparations are already underway for the next edition, which is expected to be hosted by one of the FELs of Europe partners in about two years.

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