FEL at Hamburg reaches water window

At the FLASH facility at DESY, Hamburg, the free-electron laser (FEL) generated laser light flashes at wavelengths between 13.5 and 13.8 nm with an average power of 10 mW and record energies of up to 170 µJ/pulse at repetition rates of 150 Hz. Since the pulses have a duration of only around 10 fsec, the peak power can reach 10 GW/pulse. These powers are larger than is currently available at even the biggest plasma X-ray laser facilities worldwide. The use of the fifth harmonic (2.7 nm) enables FLASH to reach deep into the water window, which is crucially important for the investigation of biological samples. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Press officer XFEL project, FLASH, DESY, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net