The ultra-bright femtosecond X-ray pulses provided by X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) open up opportunities to study the structure and dynamics of a wide variety of systems beyond what is possible with synchrotron sources. This book introduces the principles and properties of currently operating and future XFELs, before outlining applications in materials science, chemistry and biology.

Edited by pioneers in this exciting field, and featuring contributions from leading researchers, this book is ideal for researchers working with XFELs, synchrotron radiation, ultrafast and femtosecond crystallography and femtosecond spectroscopy.

Uwe Bergmann is a Distinguished Staff Scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA. His research activities focus on the development and application of novel x-ray spectroscopy techniques.

Vittal Yachandra is a Senior Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA. His main research interest has focused on the study of photosynthetic water oxidation and the structure and mechanism of the Mn4Ca cluster by spectroscopy.

Junko Yano is a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a PI of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at Berkeley. Her research areas include the water oxidation in natural photosynthesis and artificial photosynthesis, catalytic reactions in metalloenzymes, application of synchrotron X-ray radiation and X-ray free electron laser techniques to biological and inorganic systems.

Review of X-ray Sources and Application in Energy Sciences; X-ray Laser Studies of Natural Photosynthesis; Ultrafast X-ray Laser Studies of Electron Excited States; X-ray Spectroscopy of Water and Absorbed Water on Metals; Electronic Dynamics in Photovoltaic Systems; Two-colour X-ray Studies in Energy Sciences; Electronic Structural Dynamics in Photochemical Processes; Material Structure and Motion Studies in Solar Energy Conversion; X-ray Studies of Charge Transfer and Excited Electronic Structure in Artificial Photosynthesis.