Free-Electron Laser Plunges into the Ultraviolet

Pursuing x-ray laser emission for applications across the sciences, an international research team has achieved 109-nm output from a test bed free-electron laser at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany. The system uses a superconducting accelerator of wiggler magnets to produce the ultraviolet radiation by self-amplified spontaneous emission in a 230-MeV electron beam.

The consortium, which includes researchers from 39 institutes in nine countries, will use the experience to build a 500-GeV electron-positron linear collider and an x-ray laser facility. It published the results of the experiments in the Oct. 30, 2000, issue of Physical Review Letters.