Nicknamed “SACLA” (SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser), the new XFEL’s intense beams will open a unique window onto minuscule structures of molecules and rapid reaction of chemical species. (right: RICKEN achievers behind XFEL)

It comes as at Stanford University and the Linac Coherent X-ray Imaging instrument, CXI, celebrate the 4th instrument up and running since the LCLS opened for research in 2009, and the second to operate at "hard" X-ray wavelengths.

Hard X-rays are more energetic than the soft X-rays used previously in similar experiments, so penetrate deeper into samples and should yield higher resolution images.  These qualities make them ideal for biological studies of everything from crystallized proteins to viruses and intact living cells.

The 40-member international research team, led by principal investigator Sebastien Boutet of SLAC, was originally scheduled to perform this one-week run of experiments on the X-ray Pump Probe instrument, XPP.

Harima XFEL facility
When researchers study objects at atomic scale, they are confronted with a fundamental limitation: unable to “see” anything smaller than the light wavelength they use.

The new XFEL promises to overcome this limitation with light of wavelength and intensity like none ever produced before, enabling researchers for the first time to directly observe individual atoms and molecules.

To check that the XFEL is functioning properly producing this 'dream beam', researchers at SACLA conducted a series of tests on various aspects of the new facility. While confirming the beam’s expected intensity, the tests also indicated that the beam’s wavelength, 0.8Å (angstroms) or one ten-millionth of a millimeter, was right on the mark.

Beam Aacceleration successfully reached a full 7.8 GeV, just shy of the target energy of 8 GeV. Success of these initial tests marks the first step toward realising the dream of atomic and molecular structure Angstrom-scale measurements, setting the stage for full-scale experiment using the new XFEL.

The success also marks a triumph for Japanese craftsmanship, given that many of the components for SACLA were independently designed and built by Japanese manufacturers.

dPronounced “sa-cu-ra” meaning “cherry blossom” the facility’s name commemorates its Japanese origins, while its logo symbolises, among other things, the “8” GeV of energy it will generate once operating at full capacity. 

Shared use of the new facility scheduled for the end of fiscal 2011, means it will not be long before researchers begin using SACLA to push science  boundaries  for  a new era of exploration and discovery.

Europe's DESY 'dream scene' building
In Europe, lagging US and Japan, the location of the XFEL, the 3.4-km-long X-ray laser will begin on the DESY site in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld and run mostly underground to the research site, south of the town of Schenefeld (Schleswig-Holstein).

The facility has a long narrow structure measuring 650m length, and was constructed under a unique set of challenging constraints: flooring is aligned precisely to within several micrometers, and walls encasing the accelerator are a full 2m thick.