High-order beam optics - an overview

Beam-transport codes have been around for as long as thirty years and high order codes, second-order at least, for close to twenty years. Before this period of design-code development, there was considerable high-order treatment, but it was almost entirely analytical. History has a way of repeating itself, and the current excitement in the field of high-order optics is based on the application of Lie algebra and the so-called differential algebra to beam-transport codes, both of which are highly analytical in foundation. The author will describe some of the main design tools available today, giving a little of their history, and will conclude by trying to convey some of the excitement in the field through a brief description of Lie and differential algebra. 30 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab