"Scientists from Berkeley Lab have generated 300-femtosecond pulses of
bend-magnet synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source (ALS)
with the aid of a laser "time-slicing" technique. Their
proof-of-principle experiment demonstrates that this technique is a
viable one for producing ultrashort pulses of x-rays. An ALS
bend-magnet beamline will soon be commissioned that will be dedicated
to time-resolved x-ray diffraction, EXAFS, and other techniques capable
of probing the long-range and local structure of matter on a
femtosecond time scale."