# Attosecond X-ray pulses partially reverse electronic bleaching, Nature Communications study finds

_Monday, August 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM EDT · Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![Attosecond X-ray pulses partially reverse electronic bleaching, Nature Communications study finds — Primary](https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2026/ultrafast-x-ray-flashe-1.jpg)

An international team led by the University of Hamburg and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reports that ultrafast X-ray pulses can partially reverse damage they cause while still producing bright images, phys.org reported. The work appears in Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-75969-8).

Intense X-rays normally strip electrons and bleach samples before usable images form, a limit for free-electron laser imaging of molecules and nanoparticles. Researchers illuminated neon nanoparticles with pulses lasting only a few hundred attoseconds - roughly 100 to 1,000 times shorter than earlier FEL imaging flashes - tuned near the neon K-edge.

First author Anatoli Ulmer said attosecond-scale pulses outrun the usual damage cascade and that stimulated emission pushes some electrons back toward their original state, actively reducing electronic bleaching. Comparing 300-attosecond pulses with pulses 50 times longer at similar brightness showed longer pulses produced hotter free-electron clouds and more bleaching, the report said.

## Sources

- [phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultrafast-ray-partially-reverse-enabling.html)

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