Experiment reaches biology milestone with hard X-ray laser

Experiment reaches biology milestone with hard X-ray laser: "From the beginning, the resolution of images recorded by biologists has been limited by damage due to the radiation used," said physicist John C.H. Spence, a Regents' Professor in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, one of the lead authors of the studies. "But what happens if a pulse of imaging radiation is used that terminates before damage begins, yet contains sufficient photons to generate a useful scattering pattern?"

Many in the scientific community didn't believe such a method could work. Yet, said Spence, "theory and recent experiments using soft X-rays had indicated that this might indeed provide a useful path to truly damage-free imaging, and then there was the recent invention of the hard X-ray laser (Linac Coherent Light Source)."