Accelerator physics is a branch of applied physics, concerned with designing, building and operating particle accelerators. As such, it can be described as the study of motion, manipulation and observation of relativistic charged particle beams and their interaction with accelerator structures by electromagnetic fields.

In accelerator physics strong focusing or alternating-gradient focusing is the principle that, using sets of multiple electromagnets, it is possible to make a particle beam simultaneously converge in both directions perpendicular to the direction of travel. By contrast, weak focusing is the principle that nearby circles, described by charged particles moving in a uniform magnetic field, only intersect once per revolution.