[In Depth] Unique free electron laser laboratory opens in China
China has become the latest country making a free electron laser available to its scientists. Researchers around the world want access to these lasers because they are an advance on the synchrotron light sources that have been the workhorses of protein crystallography, cell biology, and materials science. The completion of the $30 million Dalian Coherent Light Source, announced this week in Beijing, has a twist that makes it unique: It is the only large laser light source in the world dedicated to the particular wavelengths of light called vacuum ultraviolet, which researchers will use to probe and analyze molecules undergoing chemical reactions. China's scientists are also working on an x-ray free electron laser expected to come online in 2 years. Author: Dennis Normile