The Linac Coherent Light Source II X-ray Laser in the United States has completed over a decade of upgrading and emitted the first X-ray with a record breaking brightness

According to reports, the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II) X-ray laser at the Stanford SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States has just completed an upgrade that took more than a decade. After a facelift, it has become the world's brightest X-ray facility and emitted the first record breaking X-ray, allowing researchers to record the behavior of atoms and molecules in biochemical reactions such as photosynthesis with unparalleled detail.

LCLS - II generates X-rays through a complex process. Firstly, researchers use ultraviolet lasers to separate electrons from copper plates, and then use strong microwave pulses to accelerate the electrons, which then pass through a "maze" of thousands of magnets. During this process, these electrons will oscillate back and forth and emit X-rays in a predictable and controllable manner. Researchers can image the internal structure of objects by guiding these X-ray pulses onto them.

The brightness of X-rays produced by LCLS - II is 1 trillion times that of X-rays used in the medical field, and 10000 times that of X-rays produced by its predecessor, LCLS.

Mike Dunn of SLAC explained that the brightness of X-rays has been improved in part because they have refurbished a 3-kilometer long metal tube, where electrons pass through the tube with a niobium lining. When cooled to around -271 ℃, niobium can withstand unprecedented high-energy electrons.

Nadia Zazeping from Le Chateau University in Australia pointed out that LCLS - II allows researchers to observe in unprecedented detail how biochemical processes occur at the atomic scale, making it possible to create "molecular movies" of biological processes such as mammalian visual imaging, photosynthesis, drug binding, and gene regulation.

Dunn also stated that LCLS - II can generate a large amount of bright X-rays in an extremely short period of time, allowing researchers to see what is happening inside the material, such as materials used in artificial photosynthetic devices or next-generation semiconductors, superconductors, etc. LCLS-II is a widely used research tool, just like a powerful microscope, which can observe all the details from quantum materials to biological systems, from catalytic chemistry to atomic physics.

Source: Science and Technology Daily