Four experimental stations are currently being constructed to serve the following scientific thrust areas:

1. Atomic, molecular and optical science (AMO)


2. Coherent imaging of non-periodic objects (CXI)


3. Coherent scattering of nano-scale fluctuations (XCS)


4. Diffraction studies of stimulated dynamics (XPP)
   
   Two more stations are currently being planned to serve:


5. High energy density science (HED)


6. Investigation of materials with soft X-rays (SXR)

Specific questions about the AMO station should be directed to John Bozek (jdbozek@slac.stanford.edu).
]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=54 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=45
Construction highlights for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) this week include:

• Completing the power and lighting installations in the Near Experimental Hall Sub-Basement

• Installing domestic water and sanitary sewer tie-ins in Building 750

• Completing the wiring installation for Building 921

• Preparation for energizing the water handling systems in the Beam Transport Hall and Undulator Hall and throughout the facility.

• Installation of sprinklers and ductwork in the Far Experimental Hall.

• Electrical grounding installation in the Access Tunnel leading to the FEH. ]]> Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=45 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=48
]]> Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=48 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=47
]]> Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=47 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=44
Construction highlights for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) this week include:

• Installation of light fixtures and electrical outlets in the Central Utilities Plant.

• Excavation and installation of rebar for footing at the north end of the Central Utilities Plant.

• Preparations to pour the final floor in the Access Tunnel.

• Final preparation for energizing the Central Utilities Plant

• Power, lighting and fire alarm installation inside the Beam Dump and Front End Enclosure, as well as road grading above the Beam Dump

• Pouring the remainder of the finished floor inside the X-ray Tunnel

• Final preparation for beneficial occupancy of the Beam Transport Hall

• Paving of the parking lot around the Near Experimental Hall, installation of final baserock around the exterior

• Energizing of systems within the Central Utilities Plant

• Piping installation and finished floor concrete pour in the Far Experimental Hall

• Preparations for finishing out the entrance to the Access Tunnel

• Continued energization of systems in the Central Utilities Plant ]]> Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=44 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=43
This month SLAC welcomes Jochen Schneider, the most recent addition to the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) team. Schneider initially came to SLAC last January as a visiting professor. His appointment as new director of the Experimental Facilities Division for the LCLS marks a big step toward making the LCLS a scientific reality.

"We've just had the first workshops for users, which worked out very nicely," Schneider said. "I think it's a very exciting time to get moving."

Schneider has a long career with free electron laser research, having developed the research program for the Free electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) facility at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron laboratory (DESY) in Germany. Schneider now brings that expertise to SLAC to create the scientific research and user program for the LCLS.

As director of the Experimental Facilities Division for the LCLS, Schneider's primary responsibility will be organizing the transition from LCLS construction to user operations. In June, the LCLS organization hosted the first two user workshops designed to help potential users prepare research proposals—the Atomic, Molecular and Optical and the X-ray Pump-Probe workshops. Schneider says the workshops are crucial for ensuring the LCLS begins producing science as soon as commissioning is complete.

"I am thrilled that Jochen has accepted this responsibility," said SLAC Director Persis Drell. "He is an invaluable resource to the laboratory in this role and will be critical in helping us to ensure outstanding early science from LCLS when it turns on."

]]> Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=43 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=37
This week, more than 50 prospective Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) users arrived at SLAC for a workshop focusing on the Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) science instrument. The workshop was geared toward helping future LCLS users prepare proposals to conduct experiments once the LCLS and the AMO instrument comes online.

The AMO instrument, which will be housed in the Near Experimental Hall, will be the first experimental LCLS endstation available to users. Scientists will use the AMO instrument to investigate how the simplest forms of matter—atoms, molecules and clusters of molecules—interact with the powerful X-ray pulses of the LCLS, and will yield clues to how such matter behaves on extremely fast timescales. ]]> Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=37 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=36
What do you get when you combine 120 concrete trucks filled with more than 1,000 cubic yards of concrete, with 350,000 pounds of steel rebar? "Happy physicists," according to Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Conventional Facilities Manager David Saenz.

Yesterday morning, starting at sunrise, scores of concrete trucks rumbled onto the SLAC site to complete what is the last major pour for the LCLS civil construction. The trucks lined up throughout the day at the entrance to the access tunnel behind the Collider Hall to deliver 1,000 cubic yards of concrete to form a single slab floor for the Far Experimental Hall deep beneath SLAC's east hills.

Pouring the massive floor as a single slab will give physicists an added degree of flexibility in reconfiguring experimental hutches in the future. Had the floor been poured in sections, the joints between the sections would allow the floor to shift and move in ways that could wreak havoc on the delicate alignment of the LCLS hardware.

In the two days alone leading up to the pour, working round the clock, crews put over 190,000 pounds of steel rebar in place to form the rigid skeleton for the slab floor. The crews then spent Thursday delivering concrete through long hoses down the access tunnel, a process that took over 18 hours. ]]> Fri, 30 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=36 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=34
]]> Thu, 29 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=34 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=35
Construction highlights from the Linac Coherent Light Source this week include:


- Assembling concrete forms adjacent to Building 3.1 in preparation for installation of concrete utility pads.

- Installation of boiler exhaust stacks in the Central Utilities Plant.

- Installation of cable trays and grounding connections in the Beam Dump and the Front End Enclosure.

- Grading the section of PEP Ring Road above the Beam Dump.

- Installing cable trays and electrical switchgear in the Front End Enclosure.

- Pouring the roof deck and painting the floors of the sub-basement in the Near Experimental Hall.]]> Fri, 23 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=35 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=31
The Office of Science semi-annually conducts reviews of its large major projects and this week it focused on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Dan Lehman, the Director of the Office of Project Assessment in the Office of Science, leads this process and he arrived at SLAC with a large team of world-class scientists, engineers and management consultants to look over all aspects of the LCLS project.

While preparation for any review, and especially a Lehman review, takes a lot of work, this is a very constructive process. All aspects of the project are reviewed, with a strong emphasis on organization and management. The review provides a reality check, and when issues are identified, it offers a broad experience base to help identify solutions. The emphasis on positive and constructive feedback is particularly helpful.

This week's Lehman review was the best I have seen for the LCLS. The committee was very impressed by the progress since their visit last July. Worrisome technical issues have been nailed; civil construction is nearing completion; and completed tunnels and vast experimental halls are beginning to fill with accelerator hardware. In addition, the commissioning of the electron beam has been very successful and the electron bunch at the end of the linac meets the specifications needed to achieve X-ray free electron laser radiation production. As the committee noted in their closeout briefing, "John Galayda and his project team are to be commended for these achievements, especially in a climate of change and uncertainty."

The entire LCLS team deserves an enormous amount of credit for all the accomplishments of the past 9 months, including our collaborators at our partner labs, Argonne and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. I would particularly like to thank John Galayda for his dedication and hard work. I have to confess that I am more than a little jealous as the LCLS team now enters what I believe is one of the most exciting phases of the project. A little over a year from now, the project plans to deliver the first x-rays to the AMO experiment in the Near Hall and start the early science program for the first users. This next year will be thrilling for the entire lab! ]]> Fri, 16 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=31 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=29
Installation of the first undulator pedestals for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is set to begin this week in the Undulator Hall. The final shipment of the stands arrived at SLAC last April from Argonne National Laboratory, where they were designed.

In all, the LCLS will use two pedestals per undulator, for a total of 66. Each pedestal is carefully designed to dampen the effects of outside vibration. To reduce the influence of slight temperature variations, the pedestals are wrapped with fiberglass blankets and filled with specially prepared sand. A removable plate atop each pedestal carries a set of electric motors and cams designed to make very fine adjustments to the exact position of the undulator—a critical parameter for the LCLS to work.

The pedestals are currently housed in End Station A as technicians make final preparations in advance of installation. "Installing the pedestals will be the easy part," says installation manager Mike Zurawel. Once the installation begins, he says, the biggest challenge will be integrating the various undulator systems and commissioning the control systems that keep all the pieces aligned and moving properly.

Last week, Argonne lead engineer Geoff Pyle and a team of representatives came to SLAC for "Undulator Week," where collaborators brainstorm about solutions to challenges that crop up. "Argonne has been incredibly helpful helping us get the pedestals ready," Zurawel says. "Last week Geoff and I sat on the floor for an hour figuring out how to adjust the positioning shims. That was fun... it was like play." ]]> Mon, 12 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=29 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=23
In preparation for the upcoming call for proposals to use the LCLS for XPP experiments, a workshop will be held at SLAC June 20-21, 2008 to inform future XPP users of the status of the LCLS and assist them with preparing their proposals for beam time. Details of the XPP instrumentation and the performance parameters of the LCLS will be presented along with discussions of ideas and details of the expected proposal to successful experiment processes. Please see the workshop site for more details and to register.]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=23 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=22
In preparation for the upcoming call for proposals to use the LCLS for AMO experiments, a workshop will be held at SLAC June 2-3, 2008 to inform future AMO users of the status of the LCLS and assist them with preparing their proposals for beam time. Details of the AMO instrumentation and the performance parameters of the LCLS will be presented along with discussions of ideas and details of the expected proposal to successful experiment processes. Please see the AMO workshop website for more details and to register.]]> Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=22 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=21
The AMO end-station is in the final design process, with detailed drawings of the mechanical components being produced, commercial components specified and controls and data acquisition software being designed. This process is expected to last until the summer when a review of the design will be held and procurement of components begin.]]> Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=21 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=1
Last week, trucks arrived with the first shipment of specially designed stands for Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) magnets and diagnostics to be installed in the Beam Transport Hall. This section of the LCLS, called the "linac-to-undulator," will connect the end of the linac to the undulator magnet arrays. Preparation for installing the stands is starting now as construction on the Beam Transport Hall nears completion.

All together there are more than 200 stands, with the heaviest weighing over half a ton. But for now, only a handful of the stands are on site, and the vendor will store the rest until they are needed simply because of the sheer mass of steel involved. Tim Montagne, the LCLS team leader in charge of the design effort for the stands, said that as a first step toward readying the hardware for installation, a few of the stands were shipped for test fitting of all the representative large magnets.

The stands themselves are engineered to virtually eliminate motion due to vibration from things like ventilation fans, circulating cooling water or nearby traffic. The specifications require that the magnets can move no more than 50 nanometers, a distance smaller than the size of a single virus.

"What you're seeing represents about one year of work," said Montagne.]]> Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=1 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=2
The tunneling breakthrough into the Far Experimental Hall (FEH) of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) on January 14th was the culmination of months of planning and excavation work. Having begun nearly a year ago, the FEH cavern is nearly complete, with only the pouring of the concrete slab floor remaining. Once the floor is poured, construction of the experimental hutches can begin.

The cavern, which measures 50 feet wide, 35 feet tall, and 230 feet long, was excavated in sectioned layers, starting from the top. Over the course of FEH excavation, as each bench was removed, tunneling subcontractor Tolga Togan of Affholder Incorporated documented the process with his camera to create this series of panoramas of the cavern and the road header at work.


Working to finish the FEH top heading, which is the ceiling. The road header worked from top to bottom in layers to excavate the FEH. (Click on image for larger version.)


Looking directly into the access tunnel, the FEH appears curved in this panorama. Each end is visible as the road header removes the next layer of earth. (Click on image for larger version.)


Looking westward, with the access tunnel on the right, and the east end of the FEH out of frame. Removal of the second layer nears completion. (Click on image for larger version.)


After removal of the last wall of earth (far left) one layer remains to reach the final floor of the FEH. (Click on image for larger version.)


Excavation is now complete, and the site is prepped for the final breakthrough, which took place just after this shot. (Click on image for larger version.)]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=2 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=3
Last week, undulator work in SLAC's Magnetic Measurement Facility (MMF) for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) entered a new chapter as workers for the first time mated an undulator with the girder to which it will eventually be mounted in the Undulator Hall (UH). This marks a further step toward the beginning of installation, scheduled to begin in the next few months as work on the UH nears completion.

As one would expect of a machine as complex as the LCLS, pairing an undulator and girder is a bit more complicated that simply tightening a few bolts. Each undulator weighs 1,800 pounds, and the girders weigh 2,600 pounds—but despite that degree of heft, the interface between the two must be precise down to 20 microns, or one-fifth the width of a human hair. Verifying the precision machining of the girders, which will be mounted permanently to their stands in the UH, is critical to ensuring the undulators may be swapped as needed without having to dismantle the beam pipe. The beam pipe itself will also be secured to the undulator girders.

"We're working very hard to certify the undulators conform to the optimal design specifications, and this is one more step toward completing that job," said Metrology Department team leader Eric Lundahl. "It's exciting to see the LCLS moving forward."]]> Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=3 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=4
When the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) was first conceived in 1992, an x-ray free-electron laser was considered an expensive and technically high-risk endeavor to create a light source with unprecedented and indeed uncertain potential. Early SLAC reports describing the LCLS concept hint at its scientific potential, but not much more. The LCLS proposal had an advantage that would prove decisive. It took a lot of the cost risk away, because using the SLAC linac would cut several hundred million dollars off the size of the bet one had to make to find out what an x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) could do.

Holding down the cost was considered important to keeping the LCLS proposal viable; every effort was made to re-use existing facilities. In 1996, the design made use of the Final Focus Test Beam facility to house the undulator magnets. A 24-meter long enclosure built onto the end of the Final Focus Test Beam (FFTB) was provided for x-ray experiments. The need for longer x-ray beamlines was recognized back then, and the 1996 Design Study Report included a concept for shooting LCLS x-rays to the eastern edge of the SLAC site through a very narrow tunnel.

By 1995, however, the scientific potential for an x-ray free-electron laser was getting widespread recognition. The German physics lab DESY proposed a huge FEL facility attached to the TESLA linear collider at the 1996 Future Light Sources workshop in Grenoble, France. It became possible to "think big" about FELs. An expansion of the LCLS concept, to a bundle of four undulator x-ray sources, was written up in 2000.

I arrived at SLAC in 2001. By this time the LCLS design had grown. What had been proposed as a single experiment in the Research Yard had become a large building capable of holding four experiment enclosures, and was called the "Near Hall." A "Far Experiment Hall" was located about where the real Near Experiment Hall is located today. In 2002, the Department of Energy (DOE) gave LCLS "Critical Decision 1" approval, thereby accepting the LCLS Conceptual Design. I had the opportunity to meet Ray Orbach, Director of the Office of Science, in September 2002, just before he signed off on CD-1. He asked me pointed questions about the LCLS: Was the design limited in some way? Was it a good long-term investment for the DOE? He made it very clear that he would be satisfied with nothing less than a FEL facility that would be the most advanced in the world—not just when it turned on, but for decades to come and when new competing facilities came on-line. His "criticisms" were music to my ears!

I brought the message back to SLAC. The LCLS team got to work. With the enthusiastic support of Jonathan Dorfan and Keith Hodgson, we changed the layout of the LCLS facility to allow expansion to six or more "hard" x-ray FELs. This is the layout which is now being constructed. There is room in the LCLS tunnel for the second of these six undulator sources. The Near Experiment Hall is where the Far Experiment Hall used to be, and the Far Experiment Hall is the underground vault you saw in SLAC Today on Tuesday. The cost of the LCLS went up, but the DOE encouraged the new design as it developed in 2003–2004. We were off and running. The LCLS team and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) researchers have published enough forefront ideas for new free-electron laser sources to keep us busy for another 20 years or more. There are concepts for expanding the LCLS beyond the earlier six-undulator layout. The DOE is fully aware of SLAC’s desire to start constructing a second undulator source in the existing LCLS tunnel. The ball is in our court; we must decide which of the many options for the second undulator we should propose.

The SLAC linac, the centerpiece of its high-energy physics program since the construction of the lab, was the enabling asset that made it possible to hold down the price of the original LCLS concept. It turns out that the linac ensures that SLAC is capable of hosting the most advanced x-ray FELs that anyone has envisioned to date. The maximum energy of the SLAC linac, 50 GeV, is believed to be about the highest energy beam that one can possibly use to make an FEL work. As of today, we think that a strong case can be made for a world-leading FEL using a 30 GeV beam and there is no FEL proposal in the world that envisions so high an energy. Because of this energy reach, we have an inherent advantage in peak intensity at wavelengths from 50 Angstroms to 1 Angstrom—the size of an atom—and shorter. This gives us the ability to image very dense materials on ultrasmall size scales to a degree impossible anywhere else. The DOE was impressed with the preview of these capabilities presented to them recently by SLAC Director Persis Drell.

When it turns on, the LCLS faces a very bright future as the world's top light source. I feel confident that we have met Ray Orbach’s challenge. The LCLS will not be "merely" the world's first "hard" x-ray FEL. SLAC is equipped to lead the world in this research area for years to come.]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=4 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=5
Yesterday morning a crowd of about 60 onlookers, bedecked in hard-hats and reflective vests, witnessed the final tunneling break through for construction of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) in the dimly lit cavern of the Far Experimental Hall (FEH). Crews working in the X-ray Transport Hall punched through the final few feet of earth and into the FEH in dramatic fashion—a crescendo of rumbling gathered until the spiked teeth of the road header gouged a gaping hole through the front wall of the FEH, devouring a sign strung across the spot for the occasion. A short time later, miners on the other side waved their congratulations to the group.

Although much finishing work remains to complete the tunnels before LCLS hardware installation can begin, Monday's break through means that the entire LCLS tunnel complex is now physically connected.

Department of Energy Site Office Deputy Manager Hanley Lee said that joining the tunnel and FEH is an important step not just for the LCLS, but for SLAC's future. "I know you probably wish you could have done it all by yourself," Lee said, addressing Director of LCLS Construction John Galayda, "but I know you had a pretty big team behind you to make this possible."

"Today represents a very big milestone in the final steps toward completing the tunnels for the LCLS project," said SLAC Director Persis Drell. "It's a huge step toward a future program of LCLS science that will define this laboratory in a major way. I would particularly like to mention the professionalism of the SLAC staff, and to thank and acknowledge John Galayda—this, for John, is a very special day."

Stay tuned to SLAC Today for a complete video account of the occasion. In the meantime, you can watch a teaser video from yesterday's proceedings (RealPlayer required). And don't forget, you can monitor the ongoing construction progress using the LCLS Dashboard and the two LCLS webcams.]]> Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=5 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=6
While most of SLAC sleeps, a select group remains hard at work, driving ahead construction progress on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Since last spring, tunnel contractor Affholder Inc. has used double shifts to speed ahead tunneling progress, with the second shift on the clock from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.

The leaders of these two teams, Jose Franco and Jose Rios, each have decades of experience digging tunnels and have worked all over the United States. Each says that what stands out the most on Department of Energy projects is the emphasis on safety.

"It's nice because I feel like they take care of us," says Franco, a resident of Los Angeles who also helped dig Fermilab's Tevatron tunnel in 2000. "It's very safe... everybody takes precaution."

In all, about 15 miners and a handful of electricians and engineers make up the second-shift tunneling crews. When completed this spring, the tunneling portion of the LCLS construction will have lasted 20 months. Franco and Rios agree that the worst part of the job is time spent away from home. Rios, who usually lives in South Carolina, says California is beautiful, but expensive. However, both Franco and Rios concede they do save money on sunscreen.]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=6 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=8
How do you take a picture of something as thin as a strand of hair that's moving at the speed of light?

Like professionals who photograph wildlife or fussy babies, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) team is not daunted. They've adapted several technologies to take pictures of the LCLS electron beam.

The pictures ensure that the beam still looks and behaves like it's supposed to after being created by the injector, accelerated, and bent by bunch compressors. For the commissioning work done last spring and summer, researchers used 14 devices installed along the injection line to help bring the electron beam up to spec for its downstream role in creating ultrafast, ultrashort x-ray pulses.

Near the beam's source, where the beam is still low in energy, researchers are using scintillating crystals to capture the crosswise dimensions of the beam. The beam shoots through the crystals, transferring kinetic energy that makes the crystals emit light, which nearby cameras detect.

After the beam gets accelerated to higher energies, physicists use a different method to picture the beam. They place a piece of aluminum foil hundreds of times thinner than kitchen foil in the beam pipe. The beam passes straight through, but the electromagnetic field that travels with the beam interacts with the foil, reflecting light to well-positioned digital cameras.

The vacuum and mechanical manufacturing groups are adding more of these optical transition radiation (OTR) cameras to one of the areas where electron bunches get compressed.

"We've had great success with this OTR diagnostic for measuring beam size," said LCLS physicist Henrik Loos.

During the next commissioning run this winter, LCLS physicists and engineers will be working to understand and fix a problem that unexpectedly cropped up in one of the OTR devices. Under certain conditions, the electrons radiate collectively, belying the assumption that each electron radiates independently and distorting the measured image.

When working well, the OTR pictures give valuable two-dimensional information on the transverse cross-section, or diameter of the beam.]]> Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=8 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=9
Construction crews working on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) site are busier than ever these days. Last week, the Beam Transport Hall, which bisects the research yard, began receiving the final yards of concrete for the roof after being connected to the Undulator Hall. On the other side of the hill, the Central Utilities Plant (CUP) is taking shape next to the Near Experimental Hall. You can keep track of the action in real-time with the LCLS webcams.]]> Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=9 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=10
As construction continues on the experimental halls that will receive the beam from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the instruments that will go inside still exist only in the minds and computers of the designers. But in the past few months, those instruments are getting closer to reality.

"Right now things are really picking up," says David Fritz, a scientist on the LCLS Ultrafast Science Instruments (LUSI) project.

Having received approval of Critical Decision-1 from the Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 27, 2007, the project is fully staffed and is in the thick of project engineering and design.

"The LCLS is a new type of machine," Fritz says. "Even simple components have to change to be used at LCLS. We're realizing this more and more every day."

The LUSI project will continue through 2012, but sufficient instrumentation will be available by mid-2009 so that LCLS science can begin with LUSI instruments immediately after first light.

The LUSI group is designing three instruments. The Coherent X-ray Imaging Instrument (CXI) will collect structural information on nanometer-sized objects with the goal to one day study individual biological molecules. Although current technologies require that a protein be crystallized before structural analysis, the CXI will not, allowing scientists to study many molecules that have otherwise remained inscrutable.

The X-ray Pump-Probe Instrument (XPP) will use an optical laser to excite a sample that changes upon stimulation with light. The LCLS beam will then probe the changes by collecting and analyzing the scattered x-rays. For example, during photosynthesis chemicals respond to light so quickly that scientists have not been able to decipher the reaction.

The X-ray Correlation Spectroscopy Instrument (XCS) will permit scientists to observe the natural motion or dynamics of matter in equilibrium. These equilibrium motions will be observed on times down to the duration of the LCLS beam, 100 femtoseconds. These studies will be applied to polymers, glasses, superconductors and much more.

The next target for the LUSI team is to establish the baseline costs and the schedule and be ready for the next DOE review and milestone early in 2008.]]> Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=10 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=11
The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) project is a collaboration that brings together components and equipment from dozens of suppliers. Last month, Craigslist.org joined that supply chain. Ed Akerstrom, a member of the LCLS undulator assembly team, scored a huge find—a six-ton block of granite—on the popular website and saved SLAC thousands of dollars in the process.

Akerstrom, a machinist who regularly trolls Craigslist.org for deals on tools, found the 15-foot-long granite block by accident. Coincidentally, the seller was associated with a previous SLAC-approved supplier, making acquisition of the stone a lot easier.

"He told me about his find on the phone," said Ben Poling, the undulator assembly team leader. "When he said they only wanted $300 for it, I figured he must have the dimensions wrong."

Granite blocks of this size provide solid, ultra-stable platforms for mounting sensitive equipment. The team, now working in the Collider Hall, had been searching for such a block to use as part of a production line for pre-setting the beam pipe vacuum chambers before they are mounted to the undulator assemblies. Since its arrival, the block has been milled to surface precision that varies less than half of one thousandth of an inch, achieving what Poling terms "AA grade." A stone of this size and quality normally would cost more than $15,000, but thanks to Akerstrom's online acumen, the group spent a fraction of that.

"It cost more to have the stone trucked over to SLAC," said Poling. Once it was finished, the total cost of shipping, mounting and resurfacing was less than $3000, according to Poling.

With the new granite block in place, the assembly team can soon start piecing together the associated structures that will hold the undulator magnets. These massive assemblies will comprise 33 undulators divided among 11 individual cells made up of heavy support pedestals, quadrupole focusing magnets, beam position monitors and related components.

The LCLS is designed such that many of its key systems, including the undulator magnets, can be fine-tuned as necessary without having to take down the machine. Recently, another key component in this fine-tuning system began arriving at SLAC. Called undulator support movers, these devices contain high-precision motors that can make minute adjustments on the fly to keep the undulators aligned to within a few microns.

With a stream of such key components arriving by the week, the undulator assembly team will soon be ready to begin piecing together the undulator assemblies in advance of installation, scheduled to begin next year.]]> Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=11 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=12
Last week, a team working with the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) construction project repositioned dozens of undulator magnets to make room for pre-assembly of the undulator support pedestals. For months, the undulators have remained stored in wooden crates in the Collider Hall, and now the first stages leading to their installation next year are set to begin.

"The most exciting thing for me is just seeing it all start to come together," said Ben Poling, leader of the group that will pre-assemble the undulator support systems. "I've been with this project since the beginning. It's really satisfying."

Poling and colleagues are currently making room among the rows of crates for the coming parade of related equipment—vacuum chambers, quadrupole magnets and beam position monitors that the team will soon start piecing together. Assembling these structures calls for a dedicated workspace furnished with high-precision mock-ups—actual replicas of the final support stands—for aligning the components, which Poling's group is currently setting up in the Collider Hall. The undulators will only be installed once the pedestals are in place in the Undulator Hall. In all, the LCLS will use 33 undulators at one time, with seven serving as back-ups.]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=12 http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=13
Pief Panofsky built a laboratory with a single purpose: to probe the fundamental structure of matter with the world’s largest electron accelerator. During his lifetime, the lab reinvented itself many times in order to stay on the frontiers of scientific discovery. Fields of science and the laboratory programs have advanced remarkably in 45 years, but the principles of outstanding science that Panofsky stood for have not changed.

We now have a laboratory with a broader scientific mission and we are developing an organization that needs to optimally support that broader mission. My goal as acting director is to optimally position the laboratory to help make a smooth transition to the future scientific programs under a new lab director who will be coming in the spring.

My motto for my time as acting director is: One Lab. What does one lab mean? On the science mission side, it means that as one lab we are developing and will articulate a long range vision for the lab of simultaneous excellence in a series of closely linked fields that attack the frontier questions of science. One Lab means that we all recognize the importance of articulating this coherent and integrated vision for the lab’s future scientific programs, and understand how the whole of our programs is much more than just the sum of its parts. This is what makes the lab truly great.

On the mission support side, one lab means that the improvement initiative for the laboratory will optimize systems that support the scientific mission across the whole lab. We may find areas where more centralization than we have now is appropriate because it will result in efficiencies or better accountability. But one size does not always fit all, and some aspects of services will always have to be locally managed and tailored for individual programs.

One lab means the same standards and expectations for safety performance in all areas of the lab. We have all signed up to Safety First. That means that when we go to do our work, we think of safety first: safety before budget, safety before schedule. We need to be implementing safety systems across the site in a consistent way.

One lab means we have a respectful workplace where every employee, no matter what unit they work in, is treated in the same respectful way. Everyone at this site is contributing to the mission of the lab in an important way and should be treated as such.

I have been asked, "Why not wait until the new director comes to start making changes?" Simply, Stanford President John Hennessy was very clear when he asked me to take on this job that his expectation of me is to move the lab forward at this time. As acting director, I cannot and will not make major changes in strategic direction at the lab, apart from those already underway, but in areas where we have changes that we know we have to make, I will move aggressively.

The future of SLAC and the future of our science are of critical importance to me. I am confident that working together we will be successful during these challenging and very exciting times.]]> Fri, 05 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT http://lcls.slac.stanford.edu/Article.aspx?article_id=13