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Article: Electrons may shed light for X-ray lasers.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 16, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Electrons may shed light for X-ray lasers
Invoking a well-known effect in quantum mechanics to answer a nagging question about electron behavior, physicists believe they may have found a recipe for making the first small X-ray lasers.
X-ray lasers, invented in 1984, can serve as powerful weapons or as scientific tools to probe the details of viruses and other molecules, but current models require hundreds of feet of laboratory space.
The new research clarifies a phenomenon noted in the 1940s: Electrons of a certain energy beamed at a metal diffraction grating produce unusually intense radiation. In the decades since, researchers have reasoned ...