Ultra High Power X-ray LCLS Lasers Get More Power

The first successful tests of the updated ultra-high-power X-ray laser were carried out. So the coherent light source of the linear accelerator (LCLS), which is able to show individual molecules and even atoms literally bombarding them with intense X-ray flashes, has become even more powerful and I will tell you about this upgrade now.

What LCLS lasers

LCLS the setup is a hard X-ray laser based on free electrons (XFEL). This setting allows you to examine the smallest objects with the most accessible detail.

To make this possible, the installation accelerates the electron beam and directs it through a special block - an undulator, which is an assembly of magnets that force electrons to vibrate from side to side.

During these vibrations, X-rays are emitted, which are then amplified and used in various experiments.

Moreover, X-ray bursts last only a femtosecond (one femtosecond is one millionth of a billionth of a second). Thanks to this, it is possible to capture processes that are happening very quickly.

First start-up and modernization

The first launch of a super-powerful X-ray laser was made back in 2009 and during its operation before modernization, it was used to examine viruses, simulate conditions in the central parts of a star, boiling water to unusual and new plasma states and even the formation of the so-called "diamond rain" (which can periodically occur on planets such as Uranus and Neptune).

And now it's time to update and now LCLS - II has twice the X-ray power.

So if earlier the installation could operate 120 pulses per second, then after revision the number of controlled pulses increased to one million per second.

In order to make this increase possible, the undulator has been updated. The new assembly consists of two halves, each of which is assembled from thousands of individual magnets.

The use of new undulators makes it possible to very accurately orient the space between the magnets and thus to make the finest adjustment of the X-ray wavelength.

The first launches and fine tuning of the updated super-powerful laser have already been made. However, this is only the first stage of the update. The rest of the changes will be made over the next two years.

A new accelerator will also be installed, which will use cryogenic superconducting technology. All this will be needed in order to bring the speed of electrons as close as possible to the speed of light.

Dozens of new experiments to study new objects are ahead of the updated and super-powerful installation.

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