A new scientific frontier opened in 2009 with the start of operations of the world's first X-ray free-electron laser (FEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS provides femtosecond pulses of X-rays (270 eV to 11.2 keV) with very high peak brightness to access new domains of ultrafast X-ray science. This article presents the fundamental FEL physics and outlines the LCLS source characteristics, along with the experimental challenges, strategies, and instrumentation that accompany this novel type of X-ray source. The main part of the article reviews the scientific achievements since the inception of LCLS in the five primary areas it serves: atomic, molecular and optical physics, condensed matter physics, matter in extreme conditions, chemistry and soft matter, and biology.

Matter with a high energy density (>10(5) joules per cm(3)) is prevalent throughout the Universe, being present in all types of stars and towards the centre of the giant planets; it is also relevant for inertial confinement fusion. Its thermodynamic and transport properties are challenging to measure, requiring the creation of sufficiently long-lived samples at homogeneous temperatures and densities. With the advent of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser, high-intensity radiation (>10(17) watts per cm(2), previously the domain of optical lasers) can be produced at X-ray wavelengths. The interaction of single atoms with such intense X-rays has recently been investigated. An understanding of the contrasting case of intense X-ray interaction with dense systems is important from a fundamental viewpoint and for applications. Here we report the experimental creation of a solid-density plasma at temperatures in excess of 10(6) kelvin on inertial-confinement timescales using an X-ray free-electron laser. We discuss the pertinent physics of the intense X-ray-matter interactions, and illustrate the importance of electron-ion collisions. Detailed simulations of the interaction process conducted with a radiative-collisional code show good qualitative agreement with the experimental results. We obtain insights into the evolution of the charge state distribution of the system, the electron density and temperature, and the timescales of collisional processes. Our results should inform future high-intensity X-ray experiments involving dense samples, such as X-ray diffractive imaging of biological systems, material science investigations, and the study of matter in extreme conditions.

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We used the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron x-ray laser to probe the electronic structure of CO molecules as their chemisorption state on Ru(0001) changes upon exciting the substrate by using a femtosecond optical laser pulse. We observed electronic structure changes that are consistent with a weakening of the CO interaction with the substrate but without notable desorption. A large fraction of the molecules (30%) was trapped in a transient precursor state that would precede desorption. We calculated the free energy of the molecule as a function of the desorption reaction coordinate using density functional theory, including van der Waals interactions. Two distinct adsorption wells-chemisorbed and precursor state separated by an entropy barrier-explain the anomalously high prefactors often observed in desorption of molecules from metals.

Multiferroics have attracted strong interest for potential applications where electric fields control magnetic order. The ultimate speed of control via magnetoelectric coupling, however, remains largely unexplored. Here, we report an experiment in which we drove spin dynamics in multiferroic TbMnO3 with an intense few-cycle terahertz (THz) light pulse tuned to resonance with an electromagnon, an electric-dipole active spin excitation. We observed the resulting spin motion using time-resolved resonant soft x-ray diffraction. Our results show that it is possible to directly manipulate atomic-scale magnetic structures with the electric field of light on a sub-picosecond time scale.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an x-ray Free-Electron Laser (FEL) project presently in a commissioning phase at SLAC. We report here on very low emittance measurements made at low bunch charge, and a few femtosecond bunch length produced by the LCLS bunch compressors. Start-to-end simulations associated with these beam parameters show the possibilities of generating hundreds of GW at 1.5Å x-ray wavelength and nearly a single longitudinally spike at 1.5 nm with 2-fs duration.

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The Linac Coherent Light Source is a SASE x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) project presently under construction at SLAC [J. Arthur et al., SLAC-R-593, 2002.]. The injector section, from drive laser and rf photocathode gun through first bunch compressor chicane, was installed in the fall of 2006. The initial system commissioning with an electron beam was completed in August of 2007, with the goal of a 1.2-micron emittance in a 1-nC bunch demonstrated. The second phase of commissioning, including second bunch compressor and full linac, is planned for 2008, with FEL commissioning in 2009. We report experimental results and experience gained in the first phase of commissioning, including the photocathode drive laser, rf gun, photocathode, S-band and X-band rf systems, first bunch compressor, and the various beam diagnostics.