Twin electron bunches have been the subject of much investigation at the Linac Coherent Light Source, due to their many applications to X-ray free-electron lasers (X-FEL). Twin bunches are trains of two electron bunches that are accelerated and compressed within the same accelerating RF period. At LCLS, these bunches are used in the downstream FEL undulator to generate two X-ray pulses of different energies for pump/probe applications or de novo phase determination of protein crystals. The

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... ral and temporal shaping of the two bunches requires exquisite control of the compression system to vary the main parameters of the system in a controlled way (peak current, temporal delay and energy separation). I will discuss recent experimental and theoretical results on this subject. In particular I will focus on the demonstration of mJ-level two-color X-ray pulses using twin bunches, as well as the temporal and spectral control of this new mode of operation. Finally, I will discuss our experience with user experiments as well as our future directions of investigation.