Introduction to synchrotron radiation

Abstract

Relativistic charged particles forced to move along curved trajectories by appliedmagnetic fields emit electromagnetic radiation called SynchrotronRadiation; today electron storage rings are routinely used to provide synchrotron radiation to users in a wide spectral range from infrared to hard X-rays. Thanks to its peculiar characteristics, synchrotron radiation is one of the more powerful tools for investigating the properties of matter in many different fields like molecular and atomic physics, cell biology, medical applications, nanotechnology, catalysis and cultural heritage. Up to now three generations of synchrotron radiation sources emitting radiation with increasing quality have been developed; the fourth generation, based on free-electron lasers, already produces high power and ultrafast pulses of highly coherent radiation. In the present contribution, the main characteristics and properties of the synchrotron radiation sources and of the produced radiation are introduced and explained using a simple approach.