This award from the Division of Materials Research and the Division of Chemistry supports Cornell University to perform accelerator and x-ray technology research and development (R&D) to advance in a non-site specific way preparation for construction of an ultrahigh spectral brightness, hard x-ray coherent light sources (CLS), such as Energy Recovery Linacs and X-ray Free Electron Lasers. The high coherence and temporal properties of a CLS would transform the sciences and engineering and would enable numerous experiments that are not feasible using existing x-ray sources. Enabled capabilities would include studies on ultrafast chemical reactions, holographic imaging of materials and biological structures, new ways to determine the structure of proteins, properties of matter under extremely high pressures, and properties of glasses, disordered, and polycrystalline materials. Continued R&D is needed on the electron beam and x-ray technologies required to realize a CLS. Cornell proposes to utilize apparatus assembled under previous NSF awards to perform R&D based on the Energy Recovery Linac Technology, with specific emphasis on the requisite (1) superconducting electron accelerators, (2) electron sources, (3) electron beam physics and diagnostics, (4) electron beam dynamics, and (5) x-ray beamline components capable of handling CLS x-ray beams. The R&D will involve collaborations with other laboratories, both in the U.S. and abroad. Training the technical work force will be a major product of the work. This training is made more important by intense world-wide demand for accelerator physicists and beamline scientists familiar with the apparatus and challenges of new high brightness synchrotron beams. The work includes an effective, diversity-based, broad outreach program to the K-12 and undergraduate communities.
