Largest X-Ray Laser In The World Produces First Laser Light

European XFEL achieved with First Lasing last major milestone before the opening

The European XFEL in the metropolitan region of Hamburg, the world's largest x-ray laser, has reached the last major milestone before the official start-up in September: the 3.4-kilometer-long facility, which is mainly for underground tunnels, produced the first x-ray laser light , The X-ray light had a wavelength of 0.8 nanometers, which is about 500 times shorter than that of visible light. The laser produced a pulse per second during the first lasing, later it would be 27,000 per second.

European XFEL Managing Director Prof. Robert Feidenhans'l said: "Our partners and we have been working towards this great moment for many years. The European XFEL has produced the first X-ray laser light. The plant, which contains the know-how and components from many countries around the world, has passed its first major test with flying colors. The employees at European XFEL, DESY and our partners worldwide have done an outstanding job. This is also a great success for scientific cooperation in Europe and beyond. We can now start guiding the X-ray flashes through the world's unique mirror through the last tunnel section into the experimental hall, and then gradually commission the experimental stations.

Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Directorate, said: "The European X-ray laser has been brought to life! The first laser light produced today with the most advanced and most powerful linear accelerator in the world is beginning a new era in research in Europe. This world-wide unique high-tech facility was built in record time and within the financial framework. This is a terrific success of science. I congratulate all those involved in the research, development and construction of this plant with passion and commitment, DESY staff, European XFEL and international partners. They have demonstrated outstanding results and impressively demonstrated what is possible in international cooperation.

The X-ray laser light of the European XFEL is extremely intense and billions of times brighter than that of conventional synchrotron light sources.

The European XFEL X-ray light was produced with an electron beam from a superconducting linear accelerator, the key component of the X-ray laser. The accelerator was successfully put into operation by DESY, the main shareholder of European XFEL GmbH, at the end of April.

In a 2.1 kilometer-long accelerator tunnel, electron pulses are first strongly accelerated and prepared for the later generation of X-ray light. With almost light velocity and very high energy, the very intense electron pulses now passed through a 210-meter-long stretch of X-ray generation for the first time in a subsequent photon tunnel. Here 17,200 permanent magnets of alternating polarity act on the electron beam from above and below. The magnets of this arrangement, called an undulator, bring the electron packets to a narrow slalom course, on which they give extremely short-wave X-radiation in each curve, which increases in the course of the route in an avalanche-like manner. The 3.4-kilometer-long European XFEL is the largest and most powerful of five X-ray lasers in the world that can produce short-wave, hard X-ray light. Up to 27,000 flashes of light instead of a maximum of 120 per second, an extremely high peak intensity and simultaneous operation at several experimental stations will enable scientists to investigate even very small sample quantities and to carry out the experiments more quickly. For example, they save valuable "beam time", which is so strongly demanded by X-ray lasers because of the globally limited capacities that they are generally overbooked several times.

The X-ray laser is to be officially opened in early September. Subsequently, external users will be able to carry out the first experiments on the first two of the six experimental stations.