Welcome to the Canvas information page for the course

Accelerators and Free Electron Lasers, 7.5 credits

given by the Department of Physics.

Please note: This page contains only general information about the course. It does not contain any course material. If you are a student on the course you have to log in to the Canvas portal in the site navigation to find the courses of your program.

Contents

The course focuses on accelerators for synchrotron radiation production (linear accelerators and synchrotrons), their function and structure, and how their properties connect to different areas of application. The different components of an accelerator are analyzed (different types of electron guns, linear accelerators, storage rings, problems and solutions). The theory of magnets (dipole, quadrupole and general magnets) and how they are used in beam dynamics are described (particle optics, focusing, matrix formulation, betatron and synchrotron oscillations, beta functions, betatron (frequency and) tune, emittance, etc.). This is used to build simulation models of accelerators. The impact of resonances, magnet errors and certain high-order optical effects are discussed. The acceleration process in cavities and linear accelerators is described.

The free electron laser (FEL) process and different types of FEL (SASE, cavity-FEL, harmonic generation, high-gain harmonic generation, seeding) are described, and the physics about the amplification process is analyzed. The course includes repetition of synchrotron radiation and undulators, but with a focus on FEL.

General information

New course code from spring semester of 2026.

Course literature

W. Hillert, "Transverse Linear Beam Dynamics", Proceedings of the CERN–Accelerator–School course: Introduction to Accelerator Physics
Peter Schmuser et al., "Ultraviolet and Soft X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers", Springer Verlag

Course responsible teachers

Francesca Curbis, francesca.curbis@maxiv.lu.se
Sverker Werin, sverker.werin@maxiv.lu.se

Schedule

The latest schedule for the course can be found on the schedule software TimeEdit:

Enter the course code in the search box to search for the schedule on TimeEdit.

Entry requirements

To be admitted to the course, students must meet the general requirements for admission to Swedish higher education and have 90 credits in science, including the courses MAXM06 Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation Based Science, 7.5 credits, MAXM07 Introduction to Accelerators and Free Electron Lasers, 7.5 credits, and MAXC11 Production of Photons and Neutrons for Science, or the equivalent.

Application

Science faculty

Apply to the course through the Swedish website Antagning.se (in Swedish). Read more about the course and, during the application period, how to apply via below links.

Read about the course MAXM05 on Lund University's central website (in English).
Read about the course MAXM05 on Lund University's central website (in Swedish).

For non-Swedish speakers, please refer to below instructions in order to apply to the course.
Instructions in English for applying to programmes and courses (pdf, 791 kB).

Please note: to see if the course is open for application, always check the Swedish web page.

LTH

Apply for the course via Course application at LTH.

Doctoral studies

Sign up for the course by contacting course responsible and studentadministration@fysik.lu.se. (Remember that you need to have the course listed in your individual study plan, ISP, or approved by your supervisor to have it counted towards your exam.)

Read more

All courses offered by the Department of Physics (at fysik.lu.se)
Degree project page on Canvas
Course evaluations on Canvas
Canvas page for physics students in Lund

Do you have questions? Please contact us at studentadministration@fysik.lu.se