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World's First X-Ray Laser Goes Live

Posted by timothy on from the bring-x-rays-back-to-shoe-stores dept.

smolloy writes "The world's first X-ray laser (LCLS) has seen first light. A Free Electron Laser (FEL) is based on the light that is emitted by accelerated electrons when they are forced to move in a curved path. The beam then interacts with this emitted light in order to excite coherent emission (much like in a regular laser); thus producing a very short, extremely bright, bunch of coherent X-ray photons. The engineering expertise that went into this machine is phenomenal — 'This is the most difficult light source that has ever been turned on,' said LCLS Construction Project Director John Galayda. 'It's on the boundary between the impossible and possible, and within two hours of start-up these guys had it right on.' — and the benefits to the applied sciences from research using this light can be expected to be enormous: 'For some disciplines, this tool will be as important to the future as the microscope has been to the past,' said SLAC Director Persis Drell."

10 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. The one question we all want to know. by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can it give me super powers if it accidentally hits me?!

    1. Re:The one question we all want to know. by captnbmoore · · Score: 5, Funny

      No but as in the previous story it may sink your balls.

      --
      The Navy Motto "IF it ain't broke Fix It" "A day is wasted if you don't learn something new"
    2. Re:The one question we all want to know. by Scutter · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can it give me super powers if it accidentally hits me?!

      It can give you the power to roll around on the ground and crap yourself. Does that count?

      --

      "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    3. Re:The one question we all want to know. by dunng808 · · Score: 5, Funny

      The way it works in old comics, a ray gun gives the *shooter* power. But what good is a ray gun that shoots right through stuff? Won't the ray from my gun just circle around past the end of the universe and hit me in the back, like having sex with my girlfriend's sister?

      --

      Gary Dunn
      Open Slate Project

    4. Re:The one question we all want to know. by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Where can I pickup my free Electron Laser? Will they be ad-supported (watch an ad before you get to fire the laser) or is there a 'pro' version?

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    5. Re:The one question we all want to know. by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can it give me super powers if it accidentally hits me?!

      Yes. It can make you disappear instantly. But only the one time.

    6. Re:The one question we all want to know. by joe_frisch · · Score: 5, Informative

      Its probably the WORST weapon ever built. A kilometer and a half long. Can only change its aiming point by a fraction of a degree. It took about 15 minutes to burn a pin sized hole in a piece of metal foil, and it only goes a couple of meters through air. Now if the bad guys decide to attack us with very slow moving, really tiny robots, one at a time, maybe we can do something.

  2. Re:size by geekoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    HA. Typical non-mad scientists thinking! you will never get anywhere thinking like that!
    The question is, "SO when will there be a shark large enough to mount this on?"

    and that would be next week.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  3. Re:Bah, that's nothing...- MALWARE! by xonar · · Score: 5, Informative

    Watch out, dont visit the above! It's a trap!

  4. No, SDI did not collapse the Soviet Union by amck · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are problems with this idea.
    (1) Its justification after the fact. No credible proof has been provided that this was ever the plan: rather, the Soviet Union collapsed economically,
    in a way unexpected by the CIA and the intelligence community, then the SDI folks say "See ? that was our Sekrit plan all along". If it was the
    plan, it shouldn't have been a suprise.
    (2) SDI didn't change soviet spending. They did practically no SDI work (in comparison to the US), and Soviet military spending didn't change.
    Counter-measures to SDI are / were far cheaper than SDI itself: SDI meant spending billions on new tracking and laser developments to appear
    credible (even if no-one involved believed it would work); countering it meant a few dummy balloons and chaff. It risked bankrupting the US
    far before bankrupting the SU.
    (3) Not only did Soviet spending not change, the CIA knew that it didn't change, and yet SDI continued. A very expensive, failed, policy was continued
    in order to keep money flowing into certain companies. It was a pork barrel.

    The soviet economic collapse was triggered by OPEC, not SDI. When Saudi Arabia et al opened stopcocks and flooded the world with cheap oil,
    the Soviet export economy collapsed.

    --
    Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist