The project, known as LCLS-II, will add a second X-ray laser beam to LCLS that is 10,000 times brighter, on average, than the first and fires 8,000 times faster (up to a million pulses per second.) The project will increase the power and capacity of the LCLS for experiments to provide more in-depth view of how nature works on the atomic level and on ultrafast timescales, according to a statement.

SLAC is a multi-program laboratory that explores photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research, and is operated by Stanford University for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. To make this major upgrade a reality, SLAC teamed up with four other national labs — Argonne, Berkeley Lab, Fermilab and Jefferson Lab — and Cornell University, each of which will make key contributions to project planning as well as to component design, acquisition and construction.

“LCLS-II will take X-ray science to the next level, opening the door to a whole new range of studies of the ultrafast and ultrasmall,” said LCLS Director Mike Dunne in a statement. “This will tremendously advance our ability to develop transformative technologies of the future, including novel electronics, life-saving drugs and innovative energy solutions.”

When it debuted six years ago, LCLS was the first light source of its kind, with an X-ray microscope that uses the brightest and fasted X-ray pulses ever made to provide unknown details of the atomic world. Scientists use it each year to study fundamental process in nature. For instance, it helps capture molecular video to reveal how chemical bonds form and break; ultrafast snapshots that show electric charges as they rearrange in materials and change properties; and 3-D images of disease-related proteins that show atomic-level details that could help with medical research.

The new X-ray laser will work together with the existing one — each of which will occupy one-third of SLAC’s 2-mile long linear accelerator tunnel. They will work together to allow researchers to make observations over a wider energy range, capturing even more detailed snapshots of rapid processes.

“The upgrade will benefit X-ray experiments in many different ways, and I’m very excited to use the new capabilities for my own research,” said Brown University Professor Peter Weber, who co-led an LCLS study that used X-ray scattering to track ultrafast structural changes as ring-shaped gas molecules burst open in a chemical reaction vital to many processes in nature, in a statement. “With LCLS-II, we’ll be able to bring the motions of atoms much more into focus, which will help us better understand the dynamics of crucial chemical reactions.”

The $1 billion project is being funded by the Office of Science and is scheduled to begin operations in the early 2020s. Until then, LCLS will continue to serve the X-ray science community, except for a six-month time period in 2017 and a 12-month time period from 2018 to 2019 due to construction.
 

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The single axis tracking system, created by Trabant Solar, features 24 photovoltaic solar panels bolted to the frame. It tilts the panels east to west, following the sun throughout the day, and generates 40 percent more power than the typical solar panel system. It includes three types of panels — crystalline silicon panels, polycrystalline silicon panels and thin film panels (CIGS or CdTe) — that Marsillac and his research team will test to find a cheaper, more efficient material to create the next generation of solar panels. Solar energy is becoming a more popular energy provider though, a lot of people are using things like this deep cycle solar battery. So it comes as no surprise to find out that people want a more efficient material to creation the next generation of solar panels.

“[The system’s] uniqueness comes from the simplicity of its design and its ability to have several ground-mounting solutions. This will allow an easy installation on any type of ground,” Marsillac explained. “Most of the time you buy land that’s not even, and leveling it is expensive. I’m hoping that, with this foundation design, you will avoid that.”

The applied research he’s doing is mostly funded by Trabant Solar, in addition to a $50,000 donation from Dominion Virginia Power, the state’s largest electric utility. “Our main goal is to help the company. We’re looking at any kinks in the software or hardware, and we’re also trying to work with Dominion Power to test the system for them to see which is the best panel to buy,” Marsillac said. “We also want to use the research to educate undergraduate and graduate students. We use this platform as an example of what can be done and to explain how renewable energy works.”

This research is in conjunction with the overall fundamental research that Marsillac does for the school — which received more than $2 million in federal grants from the Department of Energy and the Defense Department — to find the next generation of solar panels.

“With fundamental research, my hope is that we can find the material that would be more efficient and cheaper to fabricate than what is available today, which means five years from now we patent this process and it goes to market,” Marsillac said. “That’s the hope of any researcher.”

Across the country at Colorado Sate University, researchers at the Materials Engineering Laboratory — the same team that created high-efficiency solar panels in 2007 that AVA Solar Inc. later mass-produced — have a similar goal: to continue to research a more efficient, cost-effective way to create solar energy. Researcher Kurt Barth says the team is trying to do that by improving device voltage and device current.

“This is a spectacular time for solar energy research. There’s been a question of whether it could ever be cost-competitive with traditional energy, and either we’re there now or it’s very close,” Barth said. “It’s within grabbing distance, and I think the key to improving efficiency is university-style research.”
Barth believes that a major factor is figuring out the cost of traditional energy, which varies tremendously within the U.S. and even more so within the world. Utility rates are significantly different, and figuring out whether or not solar energy is more cost-effective varies between specific regions. Other factors such as the amount of sun certain areas get compared to others determine those costs as well.

“It’s difficult to give a date of when solar energy will be more cost-effective, but it’s definitely a broad trend that’s moving in the right direction. If we want to accelerate that trend, the kind of research we’re doing at the university is what’s needed to give the industry tools to bring those costs down,” Barth said.

As states continue to become more proficient in renewable energy options, this new technology means the possibility of new installations for architects and contractors across the country in the coming years.

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