The Shanghai Soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser (SXFEL), the first X-ray free-electron laser user facility in China, is known as the fourth-generation light source. It can photograph and film molecules, providing a revolutionary research tool for physics, biology, chemistry and other research areas.

The development of the SXFEL is divided into two phases, the test facility and the user facility. The final goal is to build a high brightness soft X-ray free-electron laser source with wavelengths covering the “water window” and supply the light to the first five experimental stations.

The test facility was approved by in November 2020. Then it was upgraded to the user facility, and its construction completed in January this year.

Currently the SXFEL consists of a photo-injector based high-gradient C-band linac, two bunch compressors, two undulator lines, two beamlines and five experimental stations.

SXFEL is expected to open to users by the end of 2021, greatly facilitating research into the nanoscale world. The SXFEL, together with Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai High Repetition Rate X-ray FEL and Extreme Light Facility (SHINE), Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF), will form a cluster of photon science facilities, supporting a photon science research center with global influence in Zhangjiang, Shanghai.