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Recent advances in particle beam, laser and radiofrequency technologies, combined with innovative concepts and techniques such as energy recovery, coherent synchrotron radiation-induced bunching, laser-particle beam scattering, ultrashort pulse slicing, cw high current and brightness phtoinjectors, ultrafast laser switching and compact engineered end products have opened up new opportunities and vistas in terahertz/infrared radiation sources not available before. Such sources would complement the high energy short wavelength x-ray sources in that they will allow us to probe collective processes and their ?function? in complex systems and materials, in a fashion complementary to probing structure via x-rays. We will outline and give examples of both the scientific reach of such radiation sources as well as examples of a few conceived facilities and techniques worldwide spanning a diversity of spectral, coherence, brightness and application ranges in the long wavelength. Such facilities fall in the category of mezzo-scale facilities, bracketed by table top lasers on one hand and large scale synchrotron radiation sources on the other and offer very unique and directed advances in a few key areas in life, materials, imaging, instrumentation and communication sciences.
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