Jefferson Laboratory is a $600 million nuclear physics research facility built around the world's first large-scale superconducting electron accelerator -- a complex assembly of high-tech hardware and electronics stretching through an underground tunnel almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) in circumference. Delivering a continuous beam of electrons to a target substance like hydrogen, carbon, gold or lead, the accelerator enables physicists to study quarks -- subatomic particles thought by most scientists to be nature’s fundamental building blocks.

The FEL, or free-electron laser, apparatus is a smaller version of the accelerator. Like its fraternal twin, the FEL accelerator takes individual electrons stripped from a source material and injects them into a racetrack-like oval. By the time the electrons reach a device known as a "wiggler," they are highly energized. Inside the wiggler, magnets bounce the electrons back and forth --- like ping-pong balls bouncing off the paddles of opposing players. The back-and-forth movement further increases the electrons’ energy, which is subsequently released as laser light.