Brookhaven Lecture

<p>Inspired by the discoveries with synchrotron light at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and similar facilities around the world, researchers are looking for more brilliant beams of light. To develop this next-generation of light sources, accelerator physicists at the NSLS Source Development Laboratory (SDL) make use of a magnesium photocathode irradiated by ultraviolet laser light to produce electron beams of unprecedented brightness.</p> <p>To learn more about this forefront research, join Dr. James B. Murphy, NSLS Deputy Chairman for Accelerators & Operations, at 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 24, in Berkner Hall, as he gives the 432nd Brookhaven Lecture, entitled At the Cutting Edge of Bright Beams: The NSLS Source Development Laboratory. All are welcome to this free, open-to-the public lecture, which is, please note, on a Thursday, not the usual Wednesday.</p> <p>As Murphy will describe in his talk, he and fellow researchers have developed various techniques to catch molecules and atoms in action. In one recent study, the researchers used a laser to control the pulse duration of light from a free-electron laser (FEL), a type of light source with a potential peak brightness up to one billion times higher than that of ordinary synchrotron light. In another technique, Murphy and his colleagues generated extremely short pulses of terahertz radiation that are the highest intensity of their type ever produced.</p> <p>James B. Murphy earned his Ph.D. in physics from Dartmouth College in 1982. He joined the Accelerator Physics Group at the NSLS in August 1983, as a post-doc to work on free electron lasers (FELs) and laser acceleration, and is now a tenured member of the NSLS staff.</p> <p>To lunch with the lecturer at an off-site restaurant on Friday, January 25, please make reservations with Kathleen Loverro, Ext. 7188.</p>