XFEL - the world's largest free-electron laser - produced its first X-ray. This is reported in a press release of the German research center DESY. XFEL is located in Germany and is located in an underground tunnel at a depth of 6-38 meters. Its length is 3.4 kilometers. It generates synchrotron radiation in the x-ray range. It emits electrons, accelerated to relativistic speed (close to the speed of light). A 2.1km linear accelerator accelerates electrons that enter the tunnel, where there are more than 17 thousand magnets. They consist of undulators - devices that create a transverse magnetic field that is variable in space.

The particles moving in it begin to oscillate and, with each motion, release high-energy photons. The latter are combined into an X-ray beam whose energy is amplified as the electron passes along the undulator. During the test, XFEL produced only one pulse per second, but by the end of the year this value will be increased to 27 thousand pulses per second. According to the brightness of the produced radiation, the laser will significantly exceed the existing analogs.

Original article: The world's most powerful laser produced the first shot.