Jefferson Lab in the News
Putting Free-Electron Lasers to Work
Simulated explosion of a single protein molecule (T4 lysozyme) by 12-keV x rays in a 50-femtosecond pulse of 3 '1012 photons focused on a 100-nm spot. At lower left is the intact molecule before the pulse. In the middle, the pulse has ended but electrostatic repulsion has not had time to disperse the fragments, so that the diffraction pattern is not dominated by radiation damage. At upper right, we see the debris after another 50 fs. (Courtesy of J. Hajdu, Uppsala University, Sweden.)