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The Macromolecular Femtosecond Crystallography (MFX) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is the seventh and newest instrument at the world's first hard X‐ray free‐electron laser. It was designed with a primary focus on structural biology, employing the ultrafast pulses of X‐rays from LCLS at atmospheric conditions to overcome radiation damage limitations in biological measurements. It is also capable of performing various time‐resolved measurements. The MFX design consists of a versatile base system capable of supporting multiple methods, techniques and experimental endstations. The primary techniques supported are forward scattering and crystallography, with capabilities for various spectroscopic methods and time‐resolved measurements. The location of the MFX instrument allows for utilization of multiplexing methods, increasing user access to LCLS by running multiple experiments simultaneously. A description of the Macromolecular Femtosecond Crystallography instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source is given. Scientific capabilities are highlighted, performance parameters are presented along with some commissioning results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray focus optimization and characterization based on coherent scattering and quantitative speckle size measurements was demonstrated at the Linac Coherent Light Source. Its performance as a single-pulse free-electron laser beam diagnostic was tested for two typical focusing configurations. The results derived from the speckle size/shape analysis show the effectiveness of this technique in finding the focus' location, size and shape. In addition, its single-pulse compatibility enables users to capture pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in focus properties compared with other techniques that require scanning and averaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a single pass X-ray FEL designed to produce very short (∼200 fs) and very high power (8 GW), short wavelength (1.5 A˚) pulses. The new facility to be built at SLAC as a multiple laboratory collaboration will have peak brilliance performance exceeding those obtained presently in third generation synchrotron radiation sources by 10 orders of magnitude. In this paper, we review the accelerator physics design challenges. We report on advances made in photo-injectors. We discuss the issues of Coherent Synchrotron Radiation produced in the bunch compressors and undulator vacuum chamber wakefields. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]