Fastest X-Ray Laser Flashes Set New World Record
Scientists have set a world record by creating X-ray laser flashes lasting just 300 attoseconds to snap photos of electrons.
On 7 November 2026, an international team of researchers working in Schenefeld, Germany, set an astonishing new world record. Using a massive research facility called the European XFEL, the scientists created the fastest X-ray laser flashes ever recorded in history. They achieved a brand-new world record for the intensity and fluence of hard X-ray flashes, with each burst lasting for an unimaginably brief 300 attoseconds.
To put that in perspective, an attosecond is one quintillionth of a second, which is a billionth of a billionth of a single second. This tiny burst is quick enough to track the rapid movement of electrons. Led by first author Dr. Ichiro Inoue from the University of Tokyo and co-authored by Jiawei Yan from DESY, this groundbreaking study was officially published in the scientific journal Optica.
What happened?
The scientists wanted to produce flashes of hard X-ray light that were both extremely bright and unbelievably short. To achieve this, they did not just make the pulses rapid; they also squeezed them into an impossibly small area. They focused the powerful beam into a microscopic focal spot measuring just 180 by 330 nanometres.
To understand how tiny that is, picture a single strand of human hair. This microscopic target spot is approximately 100,000 times smaller than the cross-section of that single hair! Squeezing light into such a narrow space is extraordinarily tricky and requires brilliant engineering.
To pinch the beam down, the team built a special tool called an Advanced Kirkpatrick–Baez mirror system, or AKB system. In this setup, each flash reflected four times off two ultra-precise mirrors. This clever bouncing guided the beam straight into its microscopic focal spot.
When the beam hit that tiny target, its peak intensity soared above 10²⁰ watts per square centimetre. To confirm this immense power, the researchers fired the pulses at a thin copper foil. The energetic X-rays knocked electrons directly out of the innermost shells of the copper atoms. This action caused an effect called amplified spontaneous emission, proving how intense the laser pulses truly were.
Why does it matter to you?
Have you ever tried taking a photograph of a fast-spinning ceiling fan or a running pet, only to capture a blurry smear? Standard cameras are simply too slow to freeze rapid movement. Inside everything around us, tiny particles called electrons are constantly whizzing around atoms at blinding speeds. If you want to study how energy travels, normal tools cannot keep up with these swift particles.
This record-breaking laser acts just like the world’s fastest camera. Because the flashes last only 300 attoseconds, scientists can take freeze-frame snapshots of electrons inside atoms without destroying them. It is like having a super-camera that can pause the fastest race in the universe!
In the future, this incredible technology could help researchers invent new materials that have never existed before. It could also help scientists design improved medicines to treat illnesses and even learn how to guide chemical reactions step-by-step. Discoveries like this help us understand the tiny building blocks that make up everything on our planet.
Words to know
- Attosecond: A tiny sliver of time equal to one quintillionth of a second, or a billionth of a billionth of a second.
- Electron: A tiny particle that moves rapidly inside atoms.
- Nanometre: A microscopic unit of measurement that is one billionth of a metre.
- Amplified spontaneous emission: A burst of light created after energetic rays knock electrons out of the inner parts of atoms.
Did you know?
The focal spot of this laser beam is roughly 100,000 times smaller than the cross-section of a human hair, yet its intensity reaches over 10²⁰ watts per square centimetre!
Think about it
If you had a camera fast enough to take a clear snapshot of anything in the universe, what speedy object would you photograph first? How do you think understanding atoms better could help scientists build better things for our daily lives?
Quick quiz
How long did each record-breaking X-ray pulse last?
- 300 attoseconds
- 300 seconds
- 300 milliseconds
See the answer
300 attoseconds
Sources
This story was prepared by the Kids Gazette news desk with the help of AI research and writing tools, using the sources listed above.
