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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/01/europe-unveils-worlds-most-powerful-x-ray-laser

The world's most powerful X-ray laser has begun operating at a facility where scientists will attempt to recreate the conditions deep inside the sun and produce film-like sequences of viruses and cells.

The machine, called the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), acts as a high-speed camera that can capture images of individual atoms in a few millionths of a billionth of a second. Unlike a conventional camera, though, everything imaged by the X-ray laser is obliterated – its beam is 100 times more intense than if all the sunlight hitting the Earth's surface were focused onto a single thumbnail.

The facility near Hamburg, housed in a series of tunnels up to 38 metres underground, will allow scientists to explore the architecture of viruses and cells, create jittery films of chemical reactions as they unfold and replicate conditions deep within stars and planets.

Scientists are already engaged in a fierce competitive bidding process to be the among the first to get time on its six beamlines.

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