SACLA

The SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser, referred to as SACLA (pronounced さくら (Sa-Ku-Ra)), is an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) in Harima Science Garden City, Japan, embedded in the SPring-8 accelerator and synchrotron complex.{{cite web |title=The SACLA (XFEL) home page | url=http://xfel.riken.jp/eng/}}{{cite news|last1=RIKEN|title=First X-ray lasing of SACLA: Next-generation facility up and running with powerful new X-ray laser.|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110613053815.htm|accessdate=1 May 2015|work=ScienceDaily|date=13 June 2011}} When it first came into operation 2011, it was the second XFEL in the world and the first in Japan.{{cite journal|author1=Huang, Zhirong|author2=Lindau, Ingolf|title=Free-electron lasers: SACLA hard-X-ray compact FEL|journal=Nature Photonics|date=31 July 2012|volume=6|issue=8|pages=505–506|doi=10.1038/nphoton.2012.184|bibcode=2012NaPho...6..505H}}{{cite news|title=RIKEN, JASRI unveil 'SACLA', Japan's first X-ray free electron laser|url=http://phys.org/news/2011-04-riken-jasri-unveil-sacla-japan.html|accessdate=1 May 2015|work=Phys.org|date=11 April 2011}}

Design

File:SACLA experimental hutch.jpg

Like other XFELs, SACLA uses self-amplified spontaneous emission to achieve extremely high intensities of X-rays. SACLA uses in-vacuum, short-period undulators, which is one of the unique factors in its design that allows it to achieve sub-Ångstrom wavelengths of 0.6 Å at a relatively much shorter distance of 0.7 km, compared to other similar XFELs like LCLS (2 km) or the European XFEL (3.4 km).{{cite news|last1=Roberts, Jr.|first1=Glenn|title=A Growth Spurt for X-ray Lasers|url=https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features/growth-spurt-x-ray-lasers|accessdate=1 May 2015|work=SLAC Today|agency=Stanford Linear Accelerator Center|date=17 January 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022074035/https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features/growth-spurt-x-ray-lasers|archivedate=22 October 2015}} An 8.5 GeV electron beam is used as the source.

Animated Short Films

SACLA has released a number of animated short films to promote its research capabilities to the public. In July 2013, SACLA released two animated short films titled "Picotopia", which discussed the cellular biology, and "Wasureboshi", which is about conception.{{cite news|title=Kamikaze Douga Creates Anime Short for SACLA Research Center|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-12-03/kamikaze-douga-creates-anime-short-for-sacla-research-center|accessdate=1 May 2015|publisher=Anime News Network|date=3 December 2013}}

On December 3, 2013, another animated short titled "Mirai Koshi: Harima SACLA" was released to promote the XFEL's ability to detect atoms and molecules.

SACLA

Design

Animated Short Films

References

Further reading