  The sodium laser guide star adaptive optics system ALFA, which is installed
at the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope, has been undergoing an intensive
optimisation phase. Observations using natural guide stars that are presented
in this paper, show that for bright stars (V~<8) it is now possible to reach
K-band Strehl ratios in excess of 60% and to easily resolve binaries at the
diffraction limit of the telescope. In more typical usage Strehl ratios in the
range 10-15% can be achieved over a wide field (~2'); and the limiting
magnitude is currently V~<12.5. We also present some of the first spectroscopy
at diffraction limited scales, showing we are able to distinguish spectra of
binary stars with a separation of only 0.26''. Our last set of results are on
Abell galaxy clusters, including a correction on a galaxy using the laser guide
star as the reference. There are still a number of difficulties associated with
the laser, but our best result to date is of the galaxy UGC 1347 in Abell 262.
Correcting tip-tilt on a star 41'' away and higher orders on the laser, we
achieved in increase in peak intensity of 2.5, and a reduction in FWHM from
1.07'' to 0.40''. It is expected that further significant advances will be made
in the next 6 months and beyond.
