China has joined the league of elite nations with its new free electron lasers (FELs). The country has provided its researchers a potent source of high-energy photons. China accomplished the feat with the announcement of the completion of The Dalian Coherent Light Source.

The laser machine is capable of generating 140 trillion photons per laser pulse in one picosecond. Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics collaborated with Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics to produce the machine and create the project, which is estimated to cost nearly $20 million.

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China's accomplishment is of supreme importance as the newly completed light supply is the only source in the world to be dedicated to a particular range of short-wavelength light known as vacuum ultraviolet.

According to Alec Wodtke, a physical chemist at the University of Göttingen in Germany, this unique property makes the new source "a new tool for the detection and analysis of molecules undergoing chemical reactions."

A vast majority of the FELs in the world produce "hard" x-ray laser beams, which have many shortcomings such as breaking up molecules. This shortcoming is solved by the new machine as it emits softer beams.

The FEL pulses will be used to study various concepts such as the behavior of biomolecules in gases and the working of fuel combustion.

China is also working on developing more FEL facilities. It is reported that the first light from the FEL machine was produced last week. The machine will be opened for use in two years. 

TagsDalian Institute of Chemical Physics, free electron lasers, The Dalian Coherent Light Source