Bright X-Ray Flashes Created in Laser Lab

A breakthrough in laser science was achieved in Vienna: In the labs of the Photonics Institute at the Vienna University of Technology, a new method of producing bright laser pulses at x-ray energies was developed. The radiation covers a broad energy spectrum and can therefore be used for a wide range of applications, from materials science to medicine. Up until now, similar kinds of radiation could only be produced in particle accelerators (synchrotrons), but now a laser laboratory can also achieve this. The new laser technology was presented in the current issue of the magazine "Science". Laser Light: Photons Oscillating in Sync - In a laser beam, all the photons oscillate in perfect unison. The wave crests are aligned - this kind of radiation is called "coherent". The coherent light created in the labs of Professor Andrius Baltuska's team (Photonics Institute, TU Vienna) has very special properties: It is composed from photons of very different energies - extending to x-ray radiation with very short wavelengths and high energy.