Electrons accelerated by SLAC’s linear accelerator ender the LCLS undulator hall and run a gauntlet of 32 powerful undulators. Each undulator contains 224 magnets whose alternating poles force the electrons to zigzag violently and radiate X-rays. By the time they leave the undulator hall, the X-ray laser pulses are a billion times brighter than beams from traditional synchrotron X-ray sources, opening a new realm of possible experiments and discoveries.
Brad Plummer/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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