Laser-driven particle accelerators: new sources of energetic particles and radiation - introduction

An overview is provided of the papers presented at the Discussion Meeting on 'Laser-driven particle accelerators: new sources of energetic particles and radiation' which was held at the Royal Society on 6 and 7 June 2005. A discussion of the future prospects of the field, held during the last session of the meeting, is summarized and the conclusions of this presented