Third LCLS Call for Proposals
Experiments with soft and hard X-rays at the AMO, SXR and XPP stations Closing date: October 1, 2009
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has built the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Lasing at saturation for wavelengths down to 0.15 nm has been demonstrated successfully (P. Emma paper at PAC 2009). The facility is in the process of constructing instruments to make use of the FEL radiation.
LCLS will produce intense, pulses of spatially-coherent X-rays in a flash of about 70 femtoseconds FWHM duration containing about 1012 X-ray photons. It is the goal of LCLS to attract a large number of users from diverse fields and to enable a broad set of important experiments that take advantage of the unique capabilities of LCLS. Five experimental stations are currently being constructed to serve the following scientific thrust areas:
- Atomic, molecular and optical science (AMO)
- Investigation of materials with soft X-rays (SXR)
- Diffraction studies of stimulated dynamics (XPP)
- Coherent imaging of non-periodic objects (CXI)
- Coherent scattering of nano-scale fluctuations (XCS)
- Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC)
In this call for proposals, we invite the world's research community to submit scientific proposals for experiments to be carried out during the time period Sept - Dec 2010. During this period, the two soft X-ray (AMO and SXR) and the Hard-Ray (XPP) experimental stations at LCLS will be operational. The available spectral range will be from 0.8 to about 8 keV. The typical pulse duration is about 70 femtoseconds, but we expect that operation with pulse lengths of a few femtoseconds will also be available. The maximum repetition rate of the X-ray flashes is expected to be 120 Hz.
Detailed descriptions and contact information for the instruments are available on the LCLS User web site. The proposal process is described and can be accessed through the User website. Proposals will be accepted between Aug 1 and Oct 1, 2009 (no proposals accepted after 12:01 am PDT on Oct 2).
