topic Research

European XFEL - the European X-Ray Laser Project

X-ray light is already being used today to examine the tiniest structures. It has led to important new findings in chemistry, biology, materials research and physics. Nevertheless, examinations of complex biomolecules for example, which are of interest for the treatment of diseases, still require a great deal of effort and expense. Furthermore, X-ray light is not suitable for observing chemical reactions in real time. The European XFEL X-ray laser will now make it possible to enter whole new dimensions. The abbreviation European XFEL stands for "X-ray free-electron laser".

Electrons will be accelerated to very high energy levels in the European XFEL and stimulated to emit X-ray light with special properties. The wavelength of this X-ray light is so short that even atomic details can be visualised. It can be varied in the range between six and one tenth nanometre - that is a billionth of a metre.

At peak values, its brilliance is a billion times higher than that of the most modern X-ray light sources, and its average brilliance is 10,000 times higher. This will enable the examination of entire new classes of molecules.

Its time resolution is several times better than that of the light sources available today: An X-ray flash is shorter than 100 femtoseconds (thousand billionth of a second). That is the amount of time it takes for chemical compounds to form and groups of molecules to change their position. This will make it possible to "film" chemical reactions. In addition the light flashes will have the properties of laser light and thus enable, for example, three-dimensional images of the nanoworld or holographic experiments at the atomic level.The technology for the construction of the European XFEL is based largely on the preliminary work of the German Electron Synchrotron DESY. The accelerator elements for the European XFEL were developed in the course of this project and the laser principle for the X-ray laser was tested. A smaller free-electron laser for longer wavelengths, FLASH, was 2005 successfully commissioned at DESY. Research and development studies at FLASH will form an excellent basis regarding the realisation and utilisation of the European XFEL..

The X-ray laser is planned as a European project with close links to DESY. The X-ray laser European XFEL, that is 3.3 km long, is to be located in the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. It will begin on the DESY site in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld and end in the neighbouring town of Schenefeld (district of Pinneberg), where the experimental hall with place for ten measuring stations is to be erected.

So far 13 countries (France, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Hungary, China and Great Britain) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the preparatory phase of the project. The Netherlands and the EU are also observing the project's progress. The cost of building the European XFEL including 10 experimental stations is currently estimated to be approximately one billion euro. The BMBF is working on the assumption that it will provide up to 50% of the funding, the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein 10%, and the international partners the remaining 40%.

The international convention establishing the European XFEL as a new international research centre was signed at Hamburg Town Hall on 30 November 2009. Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein had already begun civil engineering work on the XFEL accelerator tunnel and the research campus in January 2009. The entire facility is expected to be commissioned in 2014.