We present an idea for creation of a crystalline undulator and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (trenches) by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation due to given periodic pattern of surface scratches have shown that a sinusoidal shape is observed on both the scratched surface and the opposite (unscratched) face of the crystal, that is, a periodic sinusoidal deformation goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in crystalline undulator, a novel compact source of radiation. The wavelength λ of a photon emitted in an undulator is in proportion to the undulator period L and in inverse proportion to the square of the particle Lorentz factor γ. The minimal period L achieved presently with the electromagnetic undulators is limited to several millimeters [1], with respective restriction on the photon energy in the order of ћω=2πћγ 2 c/L. The crystalline undulators (CU) with periodically deformed crystallographic planes offer huge electromagnetic fields and could provide a quite short period L of an undulator in sub-millimeter range. This way one can also arrange for substantial amplitudes A of oscillation for the particles channeled through the undulator and thus increase the intensity of the radiation.Currently, bent crystals are largely used for channeling extraction of 70-GeV protons at IHEP (Protvino) with efficiency reaching 85% at intensity well over 10 12 particle With a strong world-wide attention to novel sources of radiation, there has been broad theoretical interest to compact crystalline undulators, with some approaches covering also nanotechnology to make use of nanotubes to guide radiating particles [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In bent crystal channeling experiments at IHEP Protvino with 70-GeV protons, it was found that accidental micro-scratches on a crystal surface caused a deformation of the crystallographic planes to substantial depths, down to a few hundred microns as depicted in Fig. 1(a). The picture of the plane parallelism violation can be reconstructed through analysis of the profile data of 70-GeV protons channeled in crystals (ref.[15], p.120). This analysis shows that the protons in the vicinity of scratches are retained in channeling mode but do experience a substantial angular deviation following the deformation of the crystal planes. Therefore, this effect could be profitably used for creation of CU by making a periodic series of micro trenches on the crystal surface as shown on Fig. 1(b).For the first experimental proof of the method, a special diamond blade scratched one face of a silicon plate by a set of parallel trenches (grooves). A sample with dimensions of 50 x 17 x 0.48 mm 3 was prepared from commercial silicon wafer. The large polished faces of the sample were parallel to crystallographic planes (0 0 1), other faces were parallel to planes (0 1 1) and (0 1 -1). On one of the large faces of the sample, ...

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The active plasma lens represents a compact and affordable tool with radially symmetric focusing and field gradients up to several kT/m. In order to be used as a focusing device, its effects on the particle beam distribution must be well characterized. Here, we present the experimental results obtained by focusing an high-brightness electron beam by means of a 3 cm-long discharge-capillary pre-filled with Hydrogen gas. We achieved minimum spot sizes of 24 lm (rms) showing that, during plasma lensing, the beam emittance increases due to nonlinearities in the focusing field. The results have been cross-checked with numerical simulations, showing an excellent agreement.

Indium sulfide thin films have been prepared using the chemical spray pyrolysis technique. Samples with different substrate temperatures and indium-to-sulfur (In/S) ratios have been prepared and characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photosensitivity measurements and optical absorption studies. XRD studies have revealed that the samples are β-In 2 S 3 . The optical bandgap has been found to decrease from 2.81 to 2.64 eV with the In/S ratio varying from 2/1 to 2/8. The photoresponse of the samples can be improved by changing either the In/S ratio in the solution or the substrate temperature. From this study we observe that, in terms of crystallinity, bandgap and photoresponse, the sample with the In/S ratio of 1.2/8 is very suitable for any photovoltaic application.

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