Free Electron Laser (FEL) are the high power lasers which were the prime candidates to produce the intense laser beams intended to destroy attacking balistic missiles in the "star wars" program. This veteran of the cold war has made a vocational conversion in the post cold war era. Presently it is being used mostly as a very flexible tuneable source of coherent radiation for scientific, technological and medical research which is conducted in big user facilities. This application does not really take full advantage of the high operating power capabilities of the device.

Quite natural applications for FEL lay in the industrial and energy related areas. At the present time there are more than 50 FEL facilities in operation and development all over the world - primarily in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

The Principle of EA-FEL Operation

Potential Energy-Related Applications