ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overviews the most relevant properties and parameters of synchrotron sources. It discusses the physics background of such properties, based on elementary electromagnetism and special relativity. The chapter deals with X-ray free-electron lasers (FEL) and with their fundamental background. It reviews the present evolution towards new types of sources besides FELs. The chapter describes the main characteristics of synchrotron beamlines dedicated to imaging techniques. It explores the transfer of novel imaging techniques to laboratory-based sources, using as an example recent research on human heritage. The core of a synchrotron source is an electron accelerator of the “storage ring” class. This consists of an injector, where electrons are generated and pre-accelerated to a high energy. An undulator is a periodic series of magnets inserted along an otherwise straight portion of the closed trajectory of the electrons. The spectral emission makes the different types of synchrotron sources very useful for a wide variety of applications.
