LCLS Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (chemRIXS/qRIXS)

Water is all around us, yet its surface layer is surprisingly hard to study. Experiments at SLAC’s X-ray laser are bringing it into focus.

With a suite of reimagined instruments, researchers take up scientific inquiries that were out of reach just one year ago. 

Researchers used the upgraded LCLS to better understand what makes Xanthone – a powerful photocatalyst used in cancer therapies –  so efficient.  

Now 10,000 times brighter and thousands of times faster, LCLS sheds light on the formation of free radicals in nature. 

The high-energy upgrade will keep the U.S. at the forefront of X-ray science and technology, allowing researchers to advance fields such as sustainability, human health and quantum information.

Teams at SLAC installed new experimental hutches with cutting-edge instruments that will harness the upgraded facility’s new capabilities and expand the breadth of research done at the facility.

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale, ultrafast phenomena that are key to a broad range of applications, from quantum materials to clean...