The most powerful X-ray laser in the world, after years of development, is finally operational. With millions of dollars spent on the development of all its capabilities, this scientific and technological advance can mark a before and after in the way we see atomic objects.
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, belonging to the United States Department of Energy, has turned on the most powerful X-ray laser in the world, which has cost more than 1.1 billion dollars. It fires one million bursts per second, a huge increase over the original’s 120 per second and each up to 10,000 times brighter than its predecessor.
LCLS-II XFEL: the most powerful X-ray laser
The LCLS-II XFEL, the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, uses temperatures colder than deep space to accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light. This is the new version of an instrument designed to take images of microscopic objects in high resolution and on ultrafast time scales.
X-ray free electron lasers produce ultra-bright, ultra-short pulses of X-ray light that allow scientists to capture the behavior of molecules, atoms and electrons in unprecedented detail on the natural time scales over which changes occur. in chemistry, biology and materials. Its predecessor was used to image viruses, recreate conditions at the center of a star, boil water to states hotter than plasma from the Earth’s core, create the loudest possible sound, and reproduce the type of “rain of diamonds.” ” that could fall on planets like Neptune.
LCLS-II works in the same basic way as the first generation: electrons are generated and then accelerated along a long tube, before entering an “undulator” that makes them shake until they fling X-rays back and forth. side. But each step of that process has now had an update in what would become version 2.0.
The biggest revision is the throttle in the middle. While previously electrons were shot through a copper pipe at room temperature, LCLS-II uses an array of 37 cryomodules to cool the equipment to -271°C, just above Absolute Zero (-273.15°C). It does this by piping liquid helium coolant to the modules from two large helium cryoplants. At such low temperatures, the niobium metal cavities inside the modules become superconducting, allowing electrons to pass through them without resistance.
What uses does it have?
According to SLAC, this type of x-ray laser is a tool with a wide variety of applications. For example, you can make movies of chemical reactions like photosynthesis as they occur in real time. It can also help analyze the structure of complex molecules and even help design quantum computers.
“Light from SLAC’s LCLS-II will illuminate the smallest, fastest phenomena in the universe and lead to major discoveries in disciplines ranging from human health to quantum materials science. This upgrade to the most powerful X-ray laser available keeps the United States at the forefront of X-ray science, providing a window into how our world works at the atomic level. Congratulations to the incredibly talented engineers and researchers at SLAC who have invested heavily in this project over the past several years, all in the pursuit of knowledge,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
