This book has grown out of our shared experience in the development of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), based on the electron-positron storage ring SPEAR at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) starting in Summer, 1973. The immense potential of the photon beam from SPEAR became obvious as soon as experiments using the beam started to run in May, 1974. The rapid growth of interest in using the beam since that time and the growth of other facilities using high-energy storage rings (see Chapters 1 and 3) demonstrates how the users of this source of radiation are finding applications in an increasingly wide variety of fields of science and technology. In assembling the list of authors for this book, we have tried to cover as many of the applications of synchrotron radiation, both realized already or in the process of realization, as we can. Inevitably, there are omissions both through lack of space and because many projects are at an early stage. We thank the authors for their efforts and cooperation in producing what we believe is the most comprehensive treatment of synchrotron radiation research to date.

Meeting the long-felt need for in-depth information on one of the most advanced material characterization methods, a top team of editors and authors from highly prestigious facilities and institutions covers a range of synchrotron techniques that have proven useful for materials research. Following an introduction to synchrotron radiation and its sources, the second part goes on to describe the various techniques that benefit from this especially bright light, including X-ray absorption, diffraction, scattering, imaging, and lithography. The thrid and final part provides an overview of the applications of synchrotron radiation in materials science. bridging the gap between specialists in synchrotron research and material scientists, this is a unique and indispensable resource for academic and industrial researchers alike.

This book collects several contributions presented at the 2019 meeting of the Italian Synchrotron Radiation Society (SILS), held in Camerino, Italy, from 9 to 11 September 2019. Topics included are recent developments in synchrotron radiation facilities and instrumentation, novel methods for data analysis, applications in the fields of materials physics and chemistry, Earth and environmental science, coherence in x-ray experiments. The book is intended for advanced students and researchers interested in synchrotron-based techniques and their application in diverse fields.

In the summer of 1972, I had the privilege and responsibility of organizing a Gordon Conference on the "High-Energy Spectroscopy of Solids." The Thursday evening session focused on future directions for high-energy spectroscopy. The possibilities associated with synchrotron radiation for future research became a central issue. I was asked to choose the members of the panel and chair the session. Although all five members of the panel went on to have distinguished careers using synchrotron radiation, at the time some of them were skeptical about the future role of synchrotron radiation sources in high-energy photon spectroscopy. The discussion became heated, and many members of the audience spoke, both pro and con. One member of the panel produced a detailed argument that synchrotron radiation would never rival standard X-ray tubes. We found out that there were estimates for properties of synchrotrons that differed by orders of magnitude from those of X-ray tubes. That much uncertainty was expressed at a meeting that took place less than twenty years ago. It is hard to believe that, even though at that time synchrotron radiation was already being used for photoemission studies of solids and surfaces and intershell excitations in solids, the potential impact and importance of this area was not fully realized even by the experts. Today synchrotron radiation is one of the primary tools for studying surfaces, and synchrotron radiation has affected many other areas of condensed-matter physics---even superconductivity.

Synchrotron radiation is today extensively used for fundamental and applied research in many different fields of science. Its exceptional characteristics in terms of intensity, brilliance, spectral range, time structure and now also coherence pushed many experimental techniques to previously un-reachable limits, enabling the performance of experiments unbelievable only few years ago. The book gives an up-to-date overview of synchrotron radiation research today with a view to the future, starting from its generation and sources, its interaction with matter, illustrating the main experimental technique employed and provides an overview of the main fields of research in which new and innovative results are obtained. The book is addressed to PhD students and young researchers to provide both an introductory and a rather deep knowledge of the field. It will also be helpful to experienced researcher who want to approach the field in a professional way.

Preliminary concepts -- Synchrotron radiation -- Basic FEL physics -- 1D FEL analysis -- 3D FEL analysis -- Harmonic generation in high-gain FELs -- FEL oscillators and coherent hard X-rays -- Practical considerations and experimental results for high-gain FELs