Free-Electron Laser Plunges into the UV

A team at the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron facility in Hamburg, Germany, reported that it has produced coherent light at 110 nm with its free-electron laser. The work is part of a plan to construct a 6.4-nm device by 2003 and a laser emitting at 1 Å by 2009, in conjunction with a superconducting linear accelerator in the teraelectron-volt range.

The laser works on the principle of self-amplified spontaneous emission, using a 14-m wiggler magnet to force high-energy particles from an accelerator to give up photons. Because no mirrors are required to amplify the radiation, the structure is suitable for use with photons at x-ray wavelengths.