Particle Acceleration by Stimulated Emission of Radiation -- PASER

Tweet Particle Acceleration by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (PASER for Short), a sort of particle analog of the laser process, has been demonstrated, for the first time, by a team of physicists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology using the accelerator facilities at the Brookhaven National Lab. In the new proof-of-principle PASER experiment, the active medium consists of a CO2 vapor, and instead of surrendering their energy in the form of stimulated photons, the atoms transfer their energy to a beam of electrons.

Being able to accelerate electrons with energy stored in individual atoms/molecules, a concept now demonstrated with the PASER, provides new opportunities since the accelerated electrons may prove to be significantly "cooler" (they are more collimated in velocity) than in some other prospective acceleration schemes, enabling in turn the secondary generation of high-quality X-rays, which are an essential tool in nano-science.