The 11th International Conference "Charged & Neutral Particles Channeling Phenomena — Channeling 2026" is organised by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN – Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati) in collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), under high sponsorship by the Italian Physical Society (SIF), and in cooperation with and sponsored by Sapienza University of Rome, EPITA MARVEL (supported by the European Union's Horizon Europe RIA programme), X Channel, AC ProSapientia.
The conference is devoted to the common discussion on advances in physics of coherent and incoherent interaction of relativistic and nonrelativistic hadrons and leptons — protons, ions, electrons, muons and related antiparticles — in strong electromagnetic fields of various origins and structures, from solid amorphous and crystalline to laser and plasma-based ones. Since its first edition, the Channeling topics have been extended to cover the interaction of radiations and beams in various structured media and meta-materials, with main applications relating to future accelerators, storage rings, and radiation optics projects.
The scientific program will include invited reports and lectures, selected oral presentations, poster sessions, and round tables. The programme strongly encourages the participation and presentations of young colleagues, postdocs, PhD students, and postgraduate/undergraduate students.
Fig. 1 — Ion beam channeling through a crystalline lattice. Gold trajectories represent channeled ions oscillating between atomic planes; red indicates dechanneled particles.
Conference Topics
- Coherent scattering of relativistic charged particles in strong fields
- Crystal channeling, volume capture and volume reflection of hadron and lepton beams
- Energetic ion interactions processes (backscattering and channeling of low energy ions, high energy ion channeling)
- Electromagnetic radiation by relativistic charged particles in periodic structures (coherent bremsstrahlung, channeling radiation, transition radiation, diffraction radiation, parametric x-ray radiation, LPM effect, free electron lasers, Compton scattering, Cherenkov radiation-based phenomena, quantum coherence radiation phenomena)
- Channeling of radiations in capillary systems (micro- and nano-channeling, micro-channel plates, nanotubes, nano-porous)
- Novel techniques for beams handling and acceleration (channeling-based acceleration, plasma wake-fields, cross-laser fields, crystal assisted collimation, plasma-ion channels, capillary channeling)
- Advanced x-ray & neutron optics (capillary/polycapillary optics, compound refractive optics, micro- and nano-focusing, beams and radiations waveguides)
- Applications based on channeling phenomena (beams shaping, positron sources, powerful radiation sources, diagnostic tools, novel x-ray table-top instruments, channeling for advanced electronic materials studies, etc.)
Channeling 2026 will host a satellite workshop
NanoAc 2026
Workshop on Applications of Nanostructures in the Field of Accelerator Physics
Chairs: J. Resta-Lopez, G. Xia, B. Lei, G. Franchetti
The NanoAc project brings together experts from various disciplines, including plasma physics, accelerator physics, solid-state physics, materials science, computer science, engineering, industrial nanotechnology, spectroscopy, and others, to address complex challenges in the use of nanostructured materials in accelerator science.
Fig. 2 — FCC crystal lattice cross-section showing channel planes (highlighted) between atomic rows.
Fig. 3 — Energy loss distribution: channeled ions experience significantly lower energy loss compared to random orientation.
Fig. 4 — Focusing polycapillary X-ray optics: divergent X-rays from a point source enter a biconvex bundle of tapered glass capillaries. Total internal reflection (TIR) guides photons through curved tubes whose cross-section expands to a maximum at the centre and contracts at the exit, converging the beam to a focused spot.