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Atomic physics

X-ray laser peels and cores atoms

Nature volume 466, pages 35–36 (2010)Cite this article

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The world's first kiloelectronvolt X-ray laser produces such a high flux of photons that atoms can be 'cored'. In other words, the light source can knock out both the electrons of an atom's innermost shell.

What would you do if someone gave you an X-ray source with a spectral brightness that was 10 billion times greater than anything that had previously existed? Most of us might work out that we could shine it on something and see what happens, but it requires considerable skill and insight to design and interpret an experiment that provides fundamental knowledge about how these ultra-intense X-rays interact with matter. Just such an experiment is reported by Young et al.1 on page 56 of this issue. The authors show how they can tailor the characteristics of the world's first X-ray laser of kiloelectronvolt (keV) photon energy in a way that enables them to 'peel' or 'core' atoms.

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Figure 1: Peeling and coring of atoms.

References

  1. Young, L. et al. Nature 466, 56–61 (2010).

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  2. http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2009/20090421.htm

  3. Neutze, R., Wouts, R., van der Spoel, D., Weckert, E. & Hajdu, J. Nature 406, 752–757 (2000).

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  1. Justin Wark is in the Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. justin.wark@physics.ox.ac.uk,

    Justin Wark

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  1. Justin Wark
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Wark, J. X-ray laser peels and cores atoms. Nature 466, 35–36 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/466035a

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