A recent breakthrough in laser-plasma accelerators, based upon ultrashort high-intensity lasers, demonstrated the generation of quasi-monoenergetic GeV-electrons. With future Petawatt lasers ultra-high beam currents of ∼ 100 kA in ∼ 10 fs can be expected, allowing for drastic reduction in the undulator length of free-electron-lasers (FELs). We present a discussion of the key aspects of a table-top FEL design, including energy loss and chirps induced by space-charge and wakefields. These effects become important for an optimized table-top FEL operation. A first proof-of-principle VUV case is considered as well as a table-top X-ray-FEL which may open a brilliant light source also for new ways in clinical diagnostics.

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We report the observation of efficient steering of a 855 MeV electron beam at MAMI (MAinzer MIkrotron) facilities by means of planar channeling and volume reflection in a bent silicon crystal. A 30.5  μm thick plate of (211) oriented Si was bent to cause quasimosaic deformation of the (111) crystallographic planes, which were used for coherent interaction with the electron beam. The experimental results are analogous to those recorded some years ago at energy higher than 100 GeV, which is the only comparable study to date. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrated that rechanneling plays a considerable role in a particle's dynamics and hinders the spoiling of channeled particles. These results allow a better understanding of the dynamics of electrons subject to coherent interactions in a bent silicon crystal in the sub-GeV energy range, which is relevant for realization of innovative x-ray sources based on channeling in periodically bent crystals.

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We have observed that the positrons associated with a narrow peak in the positron spectrum from U + Th collisions are correlated with the simultaneous emission of electrons whose energy spectrum also contains a narrow peak. The mean energies and widths of the two peaks are equal within measurement errors. Neither the coincidence-peak intensity nor the energy distributions of the positrons and electrons can be accounted for by known nuclear internal-conversion processes. Similar observations have also been made in the Th + Th and Th + Cm collision systems.

Optical spectroscopy of a primordial isotope has traditionally formed the basis for understanding the atomic structure of an element. Such studies have been conducted for most elements and theoretical modelling can be performed to high precision, taking into account relativistic effects that scale approximately as the square of the atomic number. However, for the transfermium elements (those with atomic numbers greater than 100), the atomic structure is experimentally unknown. These radioactive elements are produced in nuclear fusion reactions at rates of only a few atoms per second at most and must be studied immediately following their production, which has so far precluded their optical spectroscopy. Here we report laser resonance ionization spectroscopy of nobelium (No; atomic number 102) in single-atom-at-a-time quantities, in which we identify the ground-state transition SP. By combining this result with data from an observed Rydberg series, we obtain an upper limit for the ionization potential of nobelium. These accurate results from direct laser excitations of outer-shell electrons cannot be achieved using state-of-the-art relativistic many-body calculations that include quantum electrodynamic effects, owing to large uncertainties in the modelled transition energies of the complex systems under consideration. Our work opens the door to high-precision measurements of various atomic and nuclear properties of elements heavier than nobelium, and motivates future theoretical work.

Narrow positron peaks are observed in five supercritical collision systems with combined nuclear charge 180^ Z u ^ 188. The peaks do not originate from nuclear internal pair conversion and their production appears to occur in a narrow projectile-energy interval near the Coulomb barrier. The line shapes are consistent with emission by a source moving with the cm. velocity. Particularly notable is an apparent independence of the peak energies on Z w . These observations are discussed in the context of the spontaneous decay of the QED vacuum and other new potential sources of line positron spectra.

The radiation emitted by 855 MeV electrons via planar channeling and volume reflection in a 30.5-μm-thick bent Si crystal has been investigated at the MAMI (Mainzer Mikrotron) accelerator. The spectral intensity was much more intense than for an equivalent amorphous material, and peaked in the MeV range in the case of channeling radiation. Differently from a straight crystal, also for an incidence angle larger than the Lindhard angle, the spectral intensity remains nearly as high as for channeling. This is due to volume reflection, for which the intensity remains high at a large incidence angle over the whole angular acceptance, which is equal to the bending angle of the crystal. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrated that incoherent scattering significantly influences both the radiation spectrum and intensity, either for channeling or volume reflection. In the latter case, it has been shown that incoherent scattering increases the radiation intensity due to the contribution of volume-captured particles. As a consequence, the experimental spectrum becomes a mixture of channeling and pure volume reflection radiations. These results allow a better understanding of the radiation emitted by electrons subjected to coherent interactions in bent crystals within a still-unexplored energy range, which is relevant for possible applications for innovative and compact x-ray or γ-ray sources