lasting only 1 to 60 femtoseconds. The pulses are so bright that they can be used to produce films of the movements of atoms and molecules. There are only four other X-ray laser facilities on a comparable scale in the entire world. Application Areas X-ray lasers like SwissFEL can be used, for example, to study new materials for electronics with the aim of further advancing miniaturisation in this field. The course of catalytic reactions can be followed on the atomic level in order to optimise them and thus improve resource efficiency in environmental technology or the chemical industry. Biomedical scientists can observe in detail the structure of vital proteins and their reactions to substances, in order to develop new drugs. References External links SwissFEL website Consortium of national Free Electron Lasers in Europe (EuroFEL), funded by the European commission under FP7. SwissFEL Scientific Publications Research lasers