European XFEL

The European XFEL member countries are marked in purple.

The European XFEL is an international X-ray laser research facility in Hamburg and Schenefeld, in which twelve countries are involved and which works closely with the DESY research center and other international partners. XFEL stands for X-Ray Free-Electron Laser , i.e. free-electron laser with X-rays . In the system, three-dimensional detailed recordings of molecules, cells, viruses and chemical reactions are possible using X-ray flashes.

Origin, characteristics, scope

In February 2003 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research gave the “green light” for an X-ray laser facility that is to be implemented as a European project at DESY. The European XFEL is a 3.4 km long facility with which laser radiation with wavelengths of 0.05 to 4.7 nanometers (X-rays) can be generated. The tunnels extend from the DESY site in Hamburg to Schenefeld in Schleswig-Holstein , where the research campus with an underground experimental hall is located. The construction work for the mostly underground facility lasted from 2009 to 2016. The opening ceremony with representatives from politics and science took place in October 2016. The first X-ray laser beam was generated in May 2017, the system was officially inaugurated at the beginning of September 2017 and research began.

financing

According to the research facility's website, the construction costs, including commissioning, amount to 1.22 billion euros (2005 price level). Of this, Germany (the federal government, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein) as the host state contributes 58 percent, the rest is financed by the partner countries. Russia takes over 27 percent, the other partners between one and three percent each. A total of twelve countries are involved in the European XFEL: Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

technology

Electrons are accelerated to energies of up to 17.5 GeV in a 1.7 km long linear accelerator. The accelerator uses 96 superconducting resonators of the TESLA type. This type of resonator is also used successfully in the previous facility, the free-electron laser FLASH at DESY , and in other electron accelerators (e.g. ELBE ). The accelerated electron beam passes through one of five different undulators and generates pulses of synchrotron radiation in the X-ray range with wavelengths from 0.05 to 4.7 nanometers (photon energy 0.26 to 25 keV) and pulse durations of less than 100 femtoseconds . The repetition rate is 27,000 per second.

Applications

Due to the short wavelength , the high brilliance and the short duration of the X-ray pulses in the femtosecond range, the facility has a wide range of applications in research - in fields such as physics , chemistry , materials science , biology and nanotechnology . At up to ten measuring stations, researchers are able to film chemical reactions and take three-dimensional images of structures in the nanometer range , such as B. of molecules . The aim is to gain new insights into nanomaterials, biomolecules and chemical reactions, with the help of which new materials can be developed in the fields of IT, medicine and energy research.