References

Here is a list of useful references for beamline design:

If you’re interested in learning about how synchrotrons themselves work, either because you’re working on a beamline and want to understand better of the magic works or because you’re about to build new beamlines for fourth generation synchrotrons, here’s a few book I recommend on the topic (with links to the Berkeley library if they exist, in case you happen to have access):

• The Science and Technology of Undulators and Wigglers – James Clarke, 2007 (Berkeley Library full access)

• Undulators, Wigglers and Their Applications – P. Elleaume 2020 (no Berkeley access)

• Gratings, Mirrors and Slits: Beamline Design for Soft X-Ray – W.B Peatman, 1997 (Berkeley Library full access)

• Soft X-Rays and Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation – David Attwood, 2012 (Berkeley Library full access)

• Elements of Modern X-ray Physics –Jens Als-Nielsen, 2011 (Berkeley Library full access)

I found all these book interesting and complementary (I would rather read the Clarke over the Elleaume, and the Attwood over the Als-Nielsen, but perhaps because I deal with softer x-rays.)

To get started, I recommend going through the free course by Philip Wilmott from PSI on EdX: Synchrotrons and X-Ray Free Electron Lasers. It is pretty comprehensive and covers a lot of the basis of x-ray science; it’s basically a boiled down version of the companion book “An Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation: Techniques and Applications” he wrote in 2011. This would take probably a week full-time, but you can probably stretch them over a few month if you’re not into binge watch (but it is probably as captivating as the Queen’s Gambit.)

To mention also: if you’re a grad student working with synchrotrons, I would recommend applying for the three-week National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, generally at Argonne National Lab in the summer, but online this time around. I’m not sure if they will increase their cap of 60 participants.