First observation of coherent THz radiation at TRIUMF electron accelerator

Terahertz (THz) radiation is finding use in an increasingly wide variety of applications encouraging the international THz community to be active and to expand. The national Free Electron Laser (FEL) program is put in motion in Canada with a mission to provide Canadian scientists with new advanced accelerator-based light sources capable of delivering remarkably high average powers. The TRIUMF laboratory is set to demonstrate production of broadband coherent THz radiation with both high peak and average powers. While the upgrade of its electron linac is within the scope of the ongoing project to explore technological capabilities in full, the first coherent THz radiation was recently observed exploiting the existing accelerator configuration.