Material Science and Engineering Seminar 
Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011
11:00 AM
Pepco Room (1105) 
Kim Engineering Building)
New Light Sources as Tools for Materials Science Grand Challenges

Gwyn P. Williams
Jefferson Lab, Newport News, Virginia, 23606 USA
 
The National Academy of Science, Department of Energy Office of Science and National Science Foundation have recently defined a set of scientific “Grand Challenges” for the 21st Century.  DOE’s interest is a secure and sustainable energy future in a clean environment.  Addressing many of the challenges will require an X-ray laser – a coherent ultra-bright light source whose wavelength is of atomic dimensions.  The machine will cost $1-2B, and will be based on technology developed at Jefferson Lab.  In this talk we will address the science motivating the X-ray laser, will describe the physics and nature of the source itself, and talk about a potential collaborative role in this project.

Work supported by the Office of Naval Research, the Joint Technology Office, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the US Army Night Vision Lab, and by DOE under contract DE-AC05-06OR23177.


Gwyn P. Williams is the Deputy Director of the Free Electron Laser facility at Jefferson Lab, and manages the lab’s research programs in photon science.  He has co-authored 240 research publications and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Gwyn’s research has used particle accelerators as light sources to help understand the fundamental physical behavior of materials and surfaces.  He was the 1990 recipient of an R&D 100 Award for developing a wavefront dividing interferometer for use with such ultrabright sources.  His research has motivated a lifelong parallel development of such ultra-bright light sources as probes.  The latest development in this arena is the decision by the Department of Energy to build an X-ray laser, with the ultimate aim of making movies of chemical reactions and studying energy transfer mechanisms at the nanoscale.