Attosecond X-Ray Science at the Linac Coherent Light Source

Understanding the ultrafast motion of many-electron systems is a frontier problem for photophysics and photochemistry. The photophysics of small molecules dictates many light-driven processes that are fundamentally important to life and technology. The timescale for electron motion in quantum systems is set by the energetic splitting of electronic states, which for small molecules is a few electron volts (eV). This implies electron motion on the few-to-sub femtosecond (fs) timescale. We present new developments from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray free-electron laser, that now enable us to probe electron motion on attosecond timescales and with atomic specificity using sub-femtosecond x-ray pulses. I will present recent technical developments and experimental results from this high-brightness, wavelength-tunable x-ray source. Recent upgrades now enable experiments at ultra high repetition rate (eventually up to ~1 MHz).