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X-rays are a most powerful tool for 3 dimensional imaging of matter on length scales from mm to nanometer. They allow for highly accurate determination of the position of atoms and their correlated motion in samples with complex structure under extreme temperature or pressure condi-tions, they probe either bulk or surface properties including order-disorder phenomena. With high resolution spectro-microscopy electronic properties of inhomogeneous novel materials are studied in great detail. So far equilibrium states are investigated. The logical next step is to extend our methodology to include the investigation of non-equilibrium, of new states of matter with atomic resolution in space and time. The XFELs provide the necessary very intense flashes of X-rays with wave-lengths down to 0.1 nm with pulse durations of 10 or 100 femtoseconds. Examples of the sug-gested applications of XFELs will be presented. Strategies for performing experiments at LINAC driven light sources will be discussed with emphasis on the synergies expected from a close collaboration between the synchrotron radiation and optical laser communities on one hand, and the accelerator and particle physics communities on the other hand.
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