electron beam tagged posts

Low-energy electron impact mediates the creation of new complex organic molecules, such as ethanol, in astrophysical/planetary model ices containing methane and oxygen; while some of the new species desorb as ions, many remain in the surface ices. Credit: The photo of Jupiter’s moon Europa, inserted for the Platinum (Pt) substrate (bottom of the graphic), is credited to NASA.

Where do the molecules required for life originate? A new study shows that a number of small organic molecules can form in a cold, spacelike environment full of radiation. Investigators at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada have created simulated space environments in which thin films of ice containing methane and oxygen are irradiated by electron beams...

1. View into the 2.1-kilometre long accelerator tunnel of European XFEL with the yellow superconducting accelerator modules hanging from the ceiling (photo: DESY/D. Nölle) 2. First Laser Light at the European XFEL, recorded by an X-ray detector at the end of the tunnel. Credit: DESY 3. The undulators gerenate the bright X-ray light. Credit: European XFEL/Heiner Müller-Elsner

European XFEL reaches the last big milestone before the official opening. The 3.4 km long facility, most of which is located in underground tunnels, has generated its first X-ray laser light. The X-ray light has a wavelength of 0.8 nm – about 500 times shorter than that of visible light. At first lasing, the laser had a repetition rate of one pulse per second, which will later increase to 2

7,000 per second.

Europe...