Video: Major Upgrade Planned For World's Most Powerful X-Ray Laser
There is a major change in The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the most powerful X-ray laser in the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The process will lead to another laser beam about 10,000 times bigger than the first. It will also permit the laser to fire 8,000 times faster at a million pulses in each second.
Scientists are expecting that LCLS-II, its new project, will enhance the SLAC's LCLS.
"LCLS-II will take X-ray science to the next level, opening the door to a whole new range of studies of the ultrafast and ultrasmall," said Mike Dunne, the project's director. "This will tremendously advance our ability to develop transformative technologies of the future, including novel electronics, life-saving drugs, and innovative energy solutions."
This laser's new level of power will help to give scientists the ability to examine atomic processes throughout a range of energy. They could use the LCLS to activate the particles, and capture their reactions in "lightning fast moments."
The LCLS laser beam gets created when electrons are propelled through a tunnel called an undulator, which is lined by a magnet. When it travels at the speed of light, the electrons course through the tunnel, emitting X-rays even as they bounce off the inner walls.
Hence, the new upgrade will enable the tunnel with feature niobium metal cavities. They do not lose energy when the temperatures are lowered. Instead, they enable the electrons to bounce through the undulator, even as energy is not lost, and a bright, powerful beam is created.
"The upgrade will benefit X-ray experiments in many different ways, and I'm very excited to use the new capabilities for my own research," said Peter Weber, a Brown University physics professor. "With LCLS-II, we'll be able to bring the motions of atoms much more into focus, which will help us better understand the dynamics of crucial chemical reactions."
