Early in 2023, electrons flying at nearly the speed of light in a tunnel beneath California will produce the brightest X-rays ever seen on Earth, allowing us to examine atoms and molecules in unprecedented detail.
These record-breaking X-rays will be produced at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which has upgraded its Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser to be the fastest and brightest in the world. While the LCLS produced about 100 X-ray pulses each second, LCLS-II will …