Harima, Japan--The x-ray light source at RIKEN and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) has produced laser light at 1.2 Angstroms, the shortest yet measured. The light was created using SACLA, an x-ray free-electron laser.
Ultrahigh-intensity x-ray free-electron laser light will allow scientists to explore the structure of atoms and molecules in unrivaled detail—the shorter the wavelength, the finer the detail. The short-wavelength light should open research opportunities in medicine, drug discovery, and nanotechnology.
One of only two facilities in the world to offer this novel light source, SACLA has the capacity to deliver radiation one billion times brighter and with pulses one thousand times shorter than other existing X-ray sources. In late March, the facility marked its first milestone with beam acceleration to 8 GeV and spontaneous (incoherent) x-rays of 0.8 Angstroms.
The new 1.2 Angstrom record for coherent light exceeds the previous record of 1.5 Angstroms set in 2009 at the only other operational x-ray free-electron laser facility in the world, the Linac Coherent Light Source (Menlo Park, CA).
User operations at SACLA will begin by the end of fiscal 2011.
For more information, contact Hitoshi Tanaka at [email protected].
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