Our ability to manipulate short wavelength radiation (~0.01�100nm, equivalent to ~120keV�12eV) has increased significantly over the last three decades. This has lead to major advances in applications in a wide range of disciplines such as: the life and medical sciences, including cancer-related studies; environmental science, including studies of pollution and its effects; archaeology and other cultural heritage disciplines; and materials science. Although expansion in application areas is due largely to modern synchrotron sources, many applications will not become widespread, and therefore routinely available as analytical tools, if they are confined to synchrotrons. This is because synchrotrons require enormous capital and infrastructure costs and are often, of necessity, national or international facilities. This seriously limits their scope for applications in research and analysis, in both academia and industry. How many universities, research institutes or even industrial laboratories would have electron microscopes if electron sources cost 100M� or more? Hence the need to develop bright but small and (relatively) cheap x-ray sources, not to replace synchrotrons but to complement them.
It is the purpose of this COST Action to facilitate such developments. Keywords : X-rays, vacuum ultraviolet radiation, laboratory sources, plasmas, discharges.
