Linac Coherent Light Source Experiments On Chemical Reactions Lead To Clean Energy Development

New experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source, an X-ray free-electron laser, took an unprecedented look at the way carbon monoxide molecules react with the surface of a catalyst in real time.
Credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Ongoing experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source Facility aimed at observing chemical reactions within catalysts may lead into better and more efficient clean energy technologies.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a free electron laser facility located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). A free electron laser (FEL) is a laser that has the same optical properties of a conventional laser but uses a different principle in forming the laser beam. Free electron lasers use an electron beam which moves freely through a magnetic structure. Conventional lasers use electrons in an excited bound atomic or molecular state.

The LCLS uses ultra-fast x-ray pulses 10⁹ times brighter than traditional synchotron (a type of particle accelerator) x-rays. The x-rays are used to image objects at an atomic level. The wavelength generated by the LCLS is close to the width of an atom which allows a very detailed image at a level thought to be impossible.

The X-ray pulses are used much like flashes from a high-speed strobe light, enabling scientists to take stop-motion pictures of atoms and molecules in motion, shedding light on the fundamental processes of chemistry, technology, and life itself.

Synchrotron Infrared Spectromicroscopy Probes Deep Into Microbial Relationship Between Archaea and Bacteria

Using a particle accelerator, scientists at Berkeley Lab probe deep into the relationship between bacteria and one celled organisms called archaea.

Living organisms are divided into three kingdoms or domains, Eukaryota, Bacteria, and Archaea. They are classified based on their cellular organization, biochemistry, and molecular biology which each share on a fundamental basis with others in the domain regardless of the diversity.

Eukaryotes is the domain that includes animals, plants, fungi, and protists (eukaryotic microorganisms). The kingdom Bacteria constitutes simple microorganisms some of which are associated with disease. The third kingdom was just recently added in the 1970s; Archaea.

Organisms under the kingdom Archaea used to be classified under the bacteria domain. Archaeans on the surface look and sometimes behave similar to bacteria but they are different on a biochemical and even genetic level. Dr. Carl Woese at the University of Illinois was the one who proposed a separate domain for them.

Most archaea are found in harsh and extreme environments such as thermal vents where temperatures may exceed 100 degrees Centigrade or hypersaline water. Although much associated with these kind of hostile habitats, there are archaeans found in the open sea especially in plankton.