The most powerful X-ray laser can emit up to a million pulses per second

A series of upgrades returned the status of the most powerful and fastest X-ray laser in the world to the LCLS-II facility.

Stanford's Linac cryogenic particle acceleratorMenlo Park now operates at temperatures as low as 2 K, accelerating electrons to almost the speed of light. With the help of magnets, it seems to swing them, creating powerful X-rays. Until the 90s, they were used to study the fundamental principles of physics; three discoveries received a Nobel Prize. With the help of such pulses it is also possible to observe the work of living cells and the occurrence of chemical reactions.

According to a statement from the National AcceleratorLaboratory at SLAC, improvements will allow LCLS-II to generate up to a million X-rays per second. This will allow scientists to carry out experiments in minutes that would previously have taken months. For comparison, in 2009, the laser produced only 120 pulses per second.

Then 37 modules were installed on ithelium cryogenic cooling to achieve superconductivity. In April 2022, the installation reached a temperature of 2 kelvin, and on May 10 it was launched. Now scientists will be able to use the accelerator to study technologies in energy, pharmaceuticals and quantum mechanics.

Recall that recently the researchers also described the principle of operation of a device for direct conversion of sunlight into a coherent laser beam without other external power sources and lenses.

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