Lifeboat Foundation

With up to a million X-ray flashes a second, the laser will help study mechanisms in physics, chemistry, and biology.

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has fired the first X-rays using the upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), a press release said. The upgraded version, dubbed LCLS-II, was built for $1.1 billion.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford has been building and operating powerful tools for advancing science for over six decades. The original LCLS was the world’s first XFEL, reaching its first light in April 2009.