[local physicists] Colloquium Announcement 9/17/2014 (Dr. Linda Young)

[Malin, Delicia M.]

Old Dominion University
Department of Physics

Fall Colloquium Series


Tuesday September 17, 2013


"X-ray Lasers - From A Dream To Reality"

Dr. Linda Young
Argonne National Lab

The first optical laser was created by Ted Maiman in May of 1960 at Hughes Rearch Laboratories. From that small-scale demonstration, lasers are now ubiquitous in society, as celebrated by Laser Fest 2010, which marked the laser's 50th anniversary. Within that timespan – we also witnessed the birth of the world’s first x-ray free electron laser, LCLS at SLAC, which produced coherent radiation at 1.5 Ångstroms on April 20, 2009. LCLS is no ordinary laser; it employs a 1-kilometer linac to accelerate electrons up to the speed of light and a 100-m array of magnets to produce x-ray bursts containing gigawatts of power – a billionfold increase over that available from x-ray synchrotrons, the other research tool used by scientists interested in determining 3D-structure of materials at the atomic scale. In this lecture I will describe the birth of the machine, the first experiments that elucidated the response of matter to these powerful x-ray laser pulses, and the challenges ahead as the x-ray laser enthusiasts from around the globe race to fulfill its dream of imaging single biomolecules without the need to resort to crystallization.
Presentation: OCNPS 200 @ 3:00 pm
Refreshments: Atrium @ 2:30 pm
More details at http://sci.odu.edu/physics/
All are Welcome!


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