The MIT X-ray Laser Project

Recent advances in accelerator, laser, and undulator technology now enable construction of multi-beamline free-electron-laser user facilities at extreme ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths. We are exploring the construction of such a facility at MIT, which will include three key elements. First, a 4-GeV superconducting linear accelerator will support twenty or more beamlines, each running at 1 kHz, to serve a large user community. Second, seeding with integrated high-harmonic generation laser technology will generate photon beams with high longitudinal coherence and 'transform-limited' pulses. Third, the wavelengths produced range from 0.3 and 100 nm in the fundamental, with substantial power in the x-ray 3rd harmonic at 0.1 nm