Optical Diagnostics for Extreme Beam Conditions

The development of simple, fast, precise and robust beam diagnostics is absolutely necessary to optimize the performance of present accelerators and to satisfy the needs of future accelerators, in particular those with extreme properties such as high brightness FELs and plasma wake-field accelerators. This invited talk will present the underlying physics and results from simulation and experiments for a number of advanced optical beam diagnostics currently under development at various accelerator research laboratories including efforts at the Cockcroft Institute.