DESY not only operates various accelerator facilities, it is also working on promising concepts for the future: “Laser plasma acceleration should one day make it possible to build machines that are significantly more compact, space-saving and cost-effective than today’s large-scale accelerators,” says Wim Leemans, director of the Accelerator Division at DESY.

We created an interactive website that demonstrates how this innovative technique works: Viewers can watch interactively and in detail how powerful laser pulses are transformed into electron beams that travel at nearly the speed of light and are tremendously useful in research. “The simulation shows the entire process, from the production of the laser pulses, through the acceleration of the electrons to the generation of high-intensity X-rays by the high-speed electrons,” explains Konrad Rappaport, co-founder and art director of the Science Communication Lab. “The events can be viewed in succession, like a film, but you can also use a slider to go to the individual steps and look at these in detail.”

More information on DESY website