The night between December 13^th and December 14^th was one of great satisfaction for the team at Sincrotrone Trieste. FERMI@Elettra, the new free-electron laser, recently built for the analysis of materials and the development of nanosciences, generated its first light in the far ultraviolet range.

This light has the consistency and intensity of the most powerful lasers, but reaches energy levels and wavelengths outside the range of traditional lasers. Furthermore it can be synchronised to the internal dynamics of the materials and processes to be observed.

It was at twenty one minutes past one that the traces of the laser's flashes of light were captured on the screen of a detector and greeted with applause by the physicists and technologists who had faithfully been following the development of FERMI right from its design phase. The results have already strongly resonated with international experts.

"The result we achieved," commented Carlo Rizzuto, chairman of Sincrotrone Trieste, "is the outcome of intensive teamwork that has seen us busy since 2006, and lately, both day and night, and is a goal that we have attained, not without a certain emotion. From today, FERMI is one of only four free-electron lasers operating in the world and is unique among them in its ability to synchronise the light with what you want to observe. Now the work continues and in the coming weeks and months we will focus our energy on finding ways to achieve even greater performances, initiating an experimental programme for FERMI that will be open to the entire international scientific and industrial community."

FERMI is housed in a tunnel more than 300 metres long and 5 metres deep, carved out of Karstic rock. It works by accelerating electrons at a speed approaching the speed of light and causes them to pass through a chain of magnetic devices that force them into an undulating motion, after which the light is finally produced.

The intensity of this light is amplified thanks to a delicate process that modulates its characteristics until it has turned it into a controllable probe with unparalleled precision that can be used to observe the dynamics of materials on an instant by instant basis.

The light pulses thus obtained are sent to the measuring chambers in order to illuminate and reveal, on a nanometric scale, the internal dynamics of all types of material and to study and adapt them as required for new product development, e.g. for pharmaceuticals, catalysts, textiles, microelectronics, mechanics and the energy and environment sectors.

With its prototype developed thanks to Italian expertise, FERMI is the result of an investment of over 150 million euros made up of European, national and regional contributions and a loan from the European Investment Bank.

Laura Bibi Palatini

Communication Office Sincrotrone Trieste

bibi.palatini@elettra.trieste.it

(+39) 0403758493

(+39) 335473809