Evolution of scientific instruments - methodology of inventiveness in applications to accelerators and beyond
Abstract:
Evolution of scientific instruments, not only those based on our familiar and conventional accelerator technology, will be discussed in this talk in the framework of the methodology of inventiveness, and will be contrasted with the predictions made in the middle of the previous century.
Armed with the general laws of evolution of scientific instruments, we will attempt to predict how the accelerator-based instruments, which we develop now, will evolve and how they will look like in the middle of our century.
We will in particular focus on discussion of compact X-ray sources, based on plasma acceleration technology. We will touch on the state of the art and some of the advanced ideas, and also discuss several key underlying physics concepts, providing the audience with simple back-of-the-envelope estimations and explanations of their most relevant parameters.