Progress report on the LCLS XFEL at SLAC

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Project will be an x-ray free-electron laser. It is intended to produce pulses of 800-8,000 eV photons. Each pulse, produced with a repetition frequency of up to 120 Hz, will provide >10(12) photons within a duration of less than 200 femtoseconds. The project employs the last kilometer of the SLAC linac to provide a low-emittance electron beam in the energy range 4-14 GeV to a single undulator. Two experiment halls, located 100 m and 350 m from the undulator exit, will house six experiment stations for research in atomic/molecular physics, pump-probe dynamics of materials and chemical processes, x-ray imaging of clusters and complex molecules, and plasma physics. Engineering design activities began in 2003, and the project is to be completed in the middle of 2010. The project design permits straightforward expansion of the LCLS to multiple undulators.