Free Electron Lasers

X-ray free-electron lasers are the brightest sources of x-rays available, with a peak brightness that is 10 orders of magnitude larger than synchrotron radiation light sources. SLAC is the world leader in X-ray free-electron lasers and was the first laboratory to achieve lasing in the angstrom regime with the Linac Coherent Light Source in 2009. In a few years the LCLS-II superconducting linac will revolutionize the field once again by enabling high-power X-ray pulses with a repetition rate of 1 MHz, a leap of 4 orders of magnitude with respect to its predecessor.

The X-ray free-electron laser department leads a wide range of research projects, with the aim of generating new scientific capabilities for LCLS-II, improving the performance of the new machine and furthering our understanding of free-electron laser physics.

Some of our ongoing projects include the generation and measurement of attosecond X-ray pulses, the development of the first multi-pass FEL based on an X-ray cavity and research on seeding and terawatt-scale pulses.

From the physics of molecules and materials at the fastest time-scales to the development of the most advanced x-ray technology, our goal is to maintain SLAC's worldwide leadership in FELs and advance ultrafast x-ray science with LCLS-II.