This record-breaking X-ray laser is ready to unlock quantum secrets

Date:
Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Description:
The upgrades can produce up to 1 million X-ray pulses per second. Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory The latest additions to the Linac Coherent Light Source-II will usher it into a new era of discovery. The post This record-breaking X-ray laser is ready to unlock quantum secrets appeared first on Popular Science .

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The upgrades can produce up to 1 million X-ray pulses per second. Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

One of the worlds most powerful lasers can soon begin peering deeper into the atomic world thanks to recent, cutting-edge X-ray upgrades. Stanfords SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has announced improvements to the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) component of the Linac Coherent Light Source-II (LCLS-II) allowing unparalleled capabilities for examining quantum materialsa milestone over 13 years in the making.

This achievement marks the culmination of over a decade of work, said LCLS-II Project Director Greg Hays via the September 18 statement . It shows that all the different elements of LCLS-II are working in harmony to produce X-ray laser light in an entirely new mode of operation.

[Related: How to make an X-ray laser thats colder than space .]

Despite its laser classification, LCLS-II can be thought of more as a massive microscope than a device generating bright pinpoints of light. When powered up, an XFEL creates extremely bright X-ray light pulses so quickly they can capture behavioral details of electrons, atoms, and molecules on their
natural timescales. SLAC built the worlds first physical XFEL, which began operating in 2009 by firing electrons via a particle accelerator through a room temperature copper pipe at 120 pulses per second.

LCLS-IIs XFEL, however, offers as many as a million X-ray pulses per secondroughly 8,000 times more often, as well as 10,000 times brighter, than its progenitor. LCLS-IIs record-shattering abilities hinge upon a state-of-the-art superconducting accelerator that uses 37 cryogenic modules
to cool its environment down to an astonishing -456 F; thats even colder than the vacuum of outer space, and only a few degrees shy of absolute zero . Credit: Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists intend to use the LCLS-II upgrades to study quantum materials interactions, as well, something pivotal to accurately examine their unusual and often counter-intuitive properties, according to SLACs announcement . A better understanding of these attributes could lead to ultrafast data processing, more energy efficient devices, quantum computers, as well as a host of other technological breakthroughs. From the intricate dance of proteins to the machinery of photosynthesis, LCLS-II will shed light on biological systems in never-before-seen detail, reads SLACs rundown.

[Related: Physicists take first-ever X-rays of single atoms .]

PopSci has followed the progress of LCLS-IIs underlying superconductor tech for decades now. Far down on the temperature scale near absolute zero (459F) lies a strange world of electrical perpetual motionor superconductivitywhere electric currents, once set in motion, flow forever, PopSci first described
in 1967. With new developments in materials and the methods for cooling them, truly fantastic devices are taking shape in laboratories across the country.

The post This record-breaking X-ray laser is ready to unlock quantum secrets appeared first on Popular Science . Articles may contain affiliate links
which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.



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Link to news story:
https://www.popsci.com/technology/slac-x-ray-laser-upgrade/


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