1-Sep-2017: World’s biggest X-ray laser gun
The world’s largest X-ray laser- European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL)- is all set to open in Germany, promising to shed new light onto very small things by letting scientists penetrate the inner workings of atoms, viruses and chemical reactions.
The 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) facility, which took 8 years to build with funding from 11 countries, has been hailed as one of the largest and most ambitious European research projects ever. It boasts a list of superlatives: the light’s brilliance is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional X-ray sources. The mega-project will generate extremely intense laser flashes, at a mind-boggling rate of 27,000 per second, inside a 3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile) tunnel up to 38 meters (125 feet) below the northern city of Hamburg. This ultrafast strobe light will allow researchers for the first time to look deep inside matter and take snapshots and films at the nano-level.
The huge laser is “like a camera and a microscope that will make it possible to see more tiny details and processes in the nano-world than ever before. Teams from around the world will be able to map the atomic details of viruses, take 3-D images of the molecular make-up of cells or film chemical reactions as they happen. The applications are sweeping – images of biomolecules may help understand and treat illnesses, while a peek inside a building material might explain why it tears or cracks. The light beams can also be bundled to create extreme pressure and temperatures to study process like those at the Earth’s core.
5-May-2017: European XFEL generates its first laser beam
The European XFEL is going to be the world’s biggest X-ray laser when it launches in September, but the science team is already celebrating as the device just completed its last major test, shining its powerful X-ray beam for the first time.
The European XFEL is a research facility in Hamburg and Schenefeld. Eleven countries are involved in the European XFEL. XFEL stands for free-electron lasers for X-ray light. The facility is 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles) long and produces X-rays through the acceleration of electrons, the so-called synchrotron radiation.
The tiny particles are first pushed to almost the speed of light in a 2.1-kilometer (1.3-mile) accelerator tunnel and then 17,290 permanent magnets with alternating poles get them on a slalom course, forcing them to release short X-ray bursts. These X-rays have a wavelength of 0.8 nanometers, about the width of an atom and 500 times smaller than visible light. Their size makes the European XFEL an important instrument, as it can create pictures and movies with atomic resolution. Powerful X-ray lasers around the world have already been used to look at biological and chemical reactions, peering further and further into the nano world.
The X-ray laser light of the European XFEL is extremely intense and a billion times brighter than that of conventional synchrotron light sources. The achievable laser light wavelength corresponds to the size of an atom, meaning that the X-rays can be used to make pictures and films of the nano-cosmos at atomic resolution – such as of biomolecules, from which better understandings of the basis of illnesses or the development of new therapies could be developed. Other opportunities include research into chemical processes and catalytic techniques, with the goal of improving their efficiency or making them more environmentally friendly; materials research; or the investigation of conditions similar to the interior of planets.