FLASH Facility Achieved World Record By Generating Flashes of Laser Light

After a successful upgrade, the FLASH facility achieved a world premiere by generating flashes of laser light at the minuscule wavelength of 6.5 nanometres (nm), thereby breaking the world record of 13.5 nm it established one year ago. The facility now provides even better research opportunities for the second measuring period, which will begin on November 19, 2007.

In a maintenance shutdown that lasted several months, the linear accelerator of the 260-metre-long FLASH facility had been extended by 12 metres by installing a sixth superconducting module. As a result, the electrons could be accelerated for the first time to one gigaelectronvolt, the design energy planned for FLASH. This also created the necessary prerequisite for the generation of laser radiation with a wavelength of 6.5 nanometres. "That we were able to reach the planned electron energy and wavelength so fast impressively confirms DESY's worldwide leading role in the construction and operation of X-ray free-electron lasers," said Professor Jochen R. Schneider, DESY Research Director. "At the same time, the research that can be carried out at these new facilities - which essentially amounts to 'filming molecules at work' - receives further impetus. This is of special significance now that the construction of the European XFEL facility in the metropolitan area of Hamburg is about to begin."