Preface
The aim of this book is to build bridges and connections between three areas of physics that are essential for developing
the next generation of accelerators: accelerators, lasers and
plasma. These three fields of physics will be introduced in
tandem with the industrial methodology of inventiveness, a
method which teaches that similar problems and solutions
appear again and again in seemingly dissimilar disciplines.
This methodology of inventiveness will, ultimately, further
enhance connections between the aforementioned fields, and
will grant the reader a novel perspective.
The text is suitable for students of various levels between
senior undergraduate and graduate physics who are interested in enhancing their ability to work successfully on the
development of the next generation of facilities, devices and
scientific instruments manufactured from the synergy of accelerators, laser and plasma. I would also recommend this
book to anyone interested in scientific innovations.
The idea for the book Unifying Physics of Accelerators,
Lasers and Plasma came not by accident — it naturally resulted from a search for the best method to suitably train
the undergraduate and graduate students at John Adams Institute and its affiliate universities. The aim is to teach several physics disciplines in a coherent way, simultaneously
ensuring that this training would develop and stimulate
innovativeness.
Materials for this book developed gradually, starting from
a single lecture presented at JINR Dubna in March 2014, to
several lectures given to Oxford undergraduates in May 2014,
and eventually to a full week-long US Particle Accelerator
School course given in June 2014. The text, to a large extent, follows the materials developed for this USPAS course.
Interaction with the students during this course proved to be
a significant inspiration for converting these materials into
book form, as well as the lectures, presentations of miniprojects by student teams and tutorial sessions that were focused on analyzing key inventions that shaped the discussed
scientific areas.
The style of this book is perhaps different from a typical
textbook on accelerator physics, or books on lasers or plasma.
Here, we tend to use qualitative discussion and prefer to
avoid heavy math, using back-of-the-envelope type derivations and estimations whenever possible (even if they provide approximate formulas). We believe that this is the better
xxvii
The aim of this book is to build bridges and connections between three areas of physics that are essential for developing
the next generation of accelerators: accelerators, lasers and
plasma. These three fields of physics will be introduced in
tandem with the industrial methodology of inventiveness, a
method which teaches that similar problems and solutions
appear again and again in seemingly dissimilar disciplines.
This methodology of inventiveness will, ultimately, further
enhance connections between the aforementioned fields, and
will grant the reader a novel perspective.
The text is suitable for students of various levels between
senior undergraduate and graduate physics who are interested in enhancing their ability to work successfully on the
development of the next generation of facilities, devices and
scientific instruments manufactured from the synergy of accelerators, laser and plasma. I would also recommend this
book to anyone interested in scientific innovations.
The idea for the book Unifying Physics of Accelerators,
Lasers and Plasma came not by accident — it naturally resulted from a search for the best method to suitably train
the undergraduate and graduate students at John Adams Institute and its affiliate universities. The aim is to teach several physics disciplines in a coherent way, simultaneously
ensuring that this training would develop and stimulate
innovativeness.
Materials for this book developed gradually, starting from
a single lecture presented at JINR Dubna in March 2014, to
several lectures given to Oxford undergraduates in May 2014,
and eventually to a full week-long US Particle Accelerator
School course given in June 2014. The text, to a large extent, follows the materials developed for this USPAS course.
Interaction with the students during this course proved to be
a significant inspiration for converting these materials into
book form, as well as the lectures, presentations of miniprojects by student teams and tutorial sessions that were focused on analyzing key inventions that shaped the discussed
scientific areas.
The style of this book is perhaps different from a typical
textbook on accelerator physics, or books on lasers or plasma.
Here, we tend to use qualitative discussion and prefer to
avoid heavy math, using back-of-the-envelope type derivations and estimations whenever possible (even if they provide approximate formulas). We believe that this is the better
xxvii