The European X-ray Laser Project (XFEL) will harness a high energy x-ray light that is one billion times more brilliant than most modern x-rays to provide detailed images of molecules and atoms.

To see these images, electrons are shot down a 3.3 km long tube at very high speeds and are stimulated to emit x-ray light. These can analyze molecules and atoms in unprecedented detail because the x-ray light emitted is at extremely short wavelengths, between six and one tenth of a nanometer, which enables very high resolution images.