The world's largest x-ray laser gets switched on today

Biggest X-ray laser gun on earth opens in September 2017
Biggest X-ray laser gun on earth opens in September 2017
Author

02 September, 2017

The European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), which happens to be the largest x-ray laser in the world, can take 3,000 images per second of that tiny world.

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, scientists at the European XFEL project say.

In regular operation from Friday onwards, the European XFEL will generate 27,000 X-ray laser flashes per second and a luminance a billion times greater than conventional X-ray sources, according to a press release from the city's marketing board.

As the BBC reports, with this laser, scientists will be able to explore molecules, cells and viruses.

The device, which stretches 3.4 kilometres along a tunnel below the city of Hamburg, is created to generate enormously bright laser flashes at a rate of 27,000 per second.

Potential uses for it include detailed study of minor flaws in building materials to better understand their weaknesses, and detailed imaging of biomolecules, including capturing thousands of images of biomolecules to create "movies" of their behavior, which could help treat illnesses. With a cost of €1.22 billion for construction and launch and a 3.4-kilometre tunnel system that extends to the state of Schleswig-Holstein, it is among Europe's biggest and most ambitious research projects.

To do that, it'll bounce light along a series of silicon mirrors so smooth that the bumps on its surface measure no more than a millionth of a millimetre in size.

Germany has coughed up 58 percent of the cost and Russian Federation 27 percent, with scientific cooperation continuing despite geopolitical tensions. The participation of eleven countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and others. The UK is in the process of joining.

Compared to other high-powered X-ray lasers, the European XFEL has one unique feature to its name. The project was spearheaded by the Hamburg research centre Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (Desy), which has operated a particle accelerator since the 1960s. As they hurtle through the tube, which is supercooled to minus 271 degrees centigrade, they are charged by microwaves in order to reach almost the speed of light.


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