Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
2666542 
Journal Article 
A compact X-ray free-electron laser emitting in the sub-angstrom region 
Ishikawa, T; Aoyagi, H; Asaka, T; Asano, Y; Azumi, N; Bizen, T; Ego, H; Fukami, K; Fukui, T; Furukawa, Y; Goto, S; Hanaki, H; Hara, T; Hasegawa, T; Hatsui, T; Higashiya, A; Hirono, T; Hosoda, N; Ishii, M; Inagaki, T; Inubushi, Y; Itoga, T; Joti, Y; Kago, M; Kameshima, T; Kimura, H; Kirihara, Y; Kiyomichi, A; Kobayashi, T; Kondo, C; Kudo, T; Maesaka, H; Marechal, XM; Masuda, T; Matsubara, S; Matsumoto, T; Matsushita, T; Matsui, S; Nagasono, M; Nariyama, N; Ohashi, H; Ohata, T; Ohshima, T; Ono, S; Otake, Y; Saji, C; Sakurai, T; Sato, T; Sawada, Kei; Seike, T; Shirasawa, K; Sugimoto, T; Suzuki, S; Takahashi, S; Takebe, H; Takeshita, K; Tamasaku, K; Tanaka, H; Tanaka, R; Tanaka, T; Togashi, T; Togawa, K; Tokuhisa, A; Tomizawa, H; Tono, K; Wu, S; Yabashi, M; Yamaga, M; Yamashita, A; Yanagida, K; Zhang, C; Shintake, T; Kitamura, H; Kumagai, N 
2012 
1 
Nature Photonics
ISSN: 1749-4885
EISSN: 1749-4893 
6 
8 
540-544 
WOS:000307046800014 
The free-electron laser, first proposed by Madey(1) in 1971, has significantly reduced laser wavelengths to the vacuum ultraviolet(2,3) and soft X-ray regions(4). Recently, an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) was operated at 1.2 angstrom at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)(5). Here, we report the successful generation of sub-angstrom laser light using a compact XFEL source, combining a short-period undulator with an 8 GeVelectron beam. The shortest wavelength attained-0.634 angstrom (63.4 pm)-is four orders of magnitude smaller than the 694 nm generated by Maiman's first laser(6). The maximum power exceeded 10 GW with a pulse duration of 10(-14) s. This achievement will contribute to the widespread use of XFEL sources and provide broad opportunities for exploring new fields in science.