THE VANDERBILT-UNIVERSITY FREE-ELECTRON LASER CENTER

One year after commissioning, the Vanderbilt University Free-Electron Laser Center has matured to the point where it routinely delivers 40 h of beam time per week to users from the US and abroad for experiments in medicine, biology, and materials science. Well-equipped laboratories and a complete animal surgical suite have made it possible to observe band discontinuities in semiconductors, measure the binding energy of DNA, and demonstrate precision machining of bone. In the future, the wavelengths available will be extended to the far infrared and to the medium-energy X-ray region, where experiments in cell dynamics and X-ray triggered chemotherapy are possible.