{
  "id": 15931839,
  "title": "X-ray free-electron laser sets new record for shortest high-energy pulses",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/x-ray-free-electron-laser-sets-new-record-for-shortest-high-energy",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-21T18:40:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ray-free-electron-laser-shortest.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) in the United States have measured the shortest high-energy X-ray pulses ever recorded. These pulses, produced by an X-ray free-electron laser, have photon energies of about 9 kiloelectronvolts and durations of 100 to 400 attoseconds. The findings have been published in Nature Photonics.",
  "summary": "Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have measured the shortest high-energy X-ray pulses ever recorded at an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). The pulses had photon energies of about 9 kiloelectronvolts (keV) and clocked in at durations of 100 to 400 attoseconds—mere billionths of a billionth of a second. The…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}