Gamma Factory: a new photonic tool for science

The Gamma Factory (GF) is an ambitious proposal developed as part of the CERN Physics Beyond Colliders program to operate the LHC as a novel kind of a light source that can produce up to ~10¹⁷ photons per second with energies of up to ~400 MeV. The key idea is to scatter laser photons off of partially stripped ultrarelativistic ions. The GF would enable a number of hitherto impossible experiments and can be thought of not only as a unique photon source, but also as a giant ion trap for precision physics. The first step in practical realization of the GF is a full-featured proof-of-principle experiment at the SPS that is currently being considered by CERN.