CLIC–LHC-based FEL–nucleus collider: Feasibility and physics search potential

The feasibility of a CLIC–LHC-based FEL–nucleus collider is investigated. It is shown that the proposed scheme satisfies all requirements of an ideal photon source for the nuclear resonance fluorescence method. The tunability, monochromaticity and high polarization of the FEL beam together with high statistics and huge energy of LHC nucleus beams will give a unique opportunity to determine different characteristics of excited nuclear levels. The physics potential of the proposed collider is illustrated for a beam of Pb nuclei.