SLAC's new X-ray laser sees first light

The new high-repetition rate superconducting free electron laser LCLS-II produced its first X-ray pulses.

SLAC has been working on an upgrade to the linac coherent light source (LCLS), the world’s first hard X-ray free electron laser for about a decade. The upgrade, LCLS-II, will deliver 10,000 times more high-intensity X-ray pulses per second than LCLS and will be the brightest X-ray light source on earth. The project finished this week by demonstrating the first X-ray pulses (see the press release here: https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2023-09-18-slac-fires-worlds-most-powerful-x-ray-laser-lcls-ii-ushers-new-era-science). We are very excited to be involved in the first experiments at LCLS-II, which will showcase the transformative research opportunities of the new source!