The Linac Coherent Light
Source (LCLS) offers researchers the first-ever
glimpse of high-energy or "hard" X-ray laser
light produced in a laboratory. (Learn more about
LCLS first light in the press release New Era of Research Begins as World's First Hard X-ray Laser Achieves First Light.)
If you reprint any of these images, please
credit them as courtesy of SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory. Click on
any image for a larger version or
contact the Communications Office for a high-res version. Questions about the
images should be directed to
communications@slac.stanford.edu or to (650)
926-2204.

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Several members of the commissioning team
work in the Main Control Center. Paul Emma (center) spearheaded the lasing campaign. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Department of Energy
Office of Science Deputy Director for Science Programs Patricia Dehmer toured the
LCLS facility in 2008 during the final phase of
construction. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for
larger image.)
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Looking west, up the beamline, inside the
LCLS Beam Transport Hall. The quadrupole magnet at left helps the electron beam maintain its precise shape before
it enters the undulator magnets. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Looking east, downstream, inside the Undulator
Hall, before installation of the undulator magnets. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Some of the LCLS team members stand by the newly installed undulators: (from right,
all are from SLAC unless otherwise noted) Mike Zurawel, Geoff Pile from Argonne National Laboratory, Paul Emma, Dave Schultz, Heinz-Dieter Nuhn and Don Schafer. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Only 12 of a total 33 LCLS undulator magnets
(silver-tone oblongs) were needed to create the first pulses of laser light. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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A total of 33 LCLS undulator magnets like this
one will create intense X-ray laser light from a pulse of electrons traveling near the speed of light. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Between each of the 33 undulator magnets, small quadrupole magnets (here, red) keep the electron pulses squeezed into tight bunches. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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The initial stages of LCLS laser commissioning called for two-thirds of the 33 undulator magnets,
as can be seen here. The remaining undulators will be installed this summer. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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Looking east down the LCLS undulator array. Thirty-three LCLS undulator magnets
will create intense X-ray laser light from a pulse of electrons traveling near the speed of light. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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LCLS undulator magnets create intense X-ray laser light
by jostling a pulse of electrons traveling near the speed of light. (Photo: Brad Plummer. Click for larger image.)
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An X-ray laser pulse as seen in SLAC's Main
Control Center. A point of laser light seen here in the middle of a larger halo of dimmer, non-coherent X-rays. The surrounding blue halo is more like the X-rays produced at a synchrotron accelerator; the tiny, distinct pinpoint in the middle is the laser pulse from the LCLS. (Click for larger image.)
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The physical size of the LCLS laser spot is about two-tenths of a millimeter.
Like light from a flashlight, most light sources diverge to create a large
spot some distance away. The LCLS laser light is tightly focused onto this
sub-millimeter diameter despite having traveled a considerable distance from its source. (Click for larger image.)
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