X-Ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL)

The European X-ray free electron laser is an X-ray research laser facility currently in commissioning. The first laser pulses were produced in May 2017, the facility is scheduled to start user operation in September 2017. At present, 11 countries have participated in the project (Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). With its first lasing, the European XFEL has reached the last big milestone.

PROJECT

• In the year 2017, the European XFEL aims to generate an  ultrashort X-ray flashes—27 000 times per second and with a brilliance that is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional X-ray radiation sources.
• The success of this project will open up a completely new research opportunities for scientists and industrial users.
• Using the X-ray flashes of the European XFEL, scientists will be able to map the atomic details of viruses, decipher the molecular composition of cells, take three-dimensional images of the nano world, film chemical reactions, and study processes such as those occurring deep inside planets.

HOW IT WORKS?

Bringing electrons to high energies

The first part of the facility is a 1.7-kilometre-long particle accelerator that brings bunches of electrons to high energies at nearly the speed of light.

The electrons are accelerated in special cavities, called as resonators. In these resonators, an oscillating microwave transfers its energy to the electrons.

Inducing the electrons to emit light

The accelerated electrons then race through so-called undulators, periodic arrangements of magnets that force the electrons onto a tight slalom course. In the process, each individual electron emits X-ray radiation that amplifies more and more. Since the radiation is faster than the electrons speeding along their slalom path, the radiation overtakes the electrons flying ahead and interacts with them along the way, accelerating some of them and slowing others down makes the electrons to organize themselves into a multitude of thin disks, which emit their light “in sync” which eventually produces extremely short and intense X-ray flashes with the properties of laser light.

Using the X-ray flashes for research

Depending upon the experimental requirements, the X-ray flashes of the European XFEL can be widened, focused, filtered or weakened using optical elements such as mirrors, gratings, slits, or crystals to meet different experiments at several different experiment stations.

Location

The European XFEL will be located mainly in underground tunnels which can be accessed on three different sites. The 3.4-kilometre-long facility will run from DESY in Hamburg to the town of Schenefeld. The Schenefeld site hosts the research campus, where international teams of scientists will carry out experiments using the X-ray flashes.

Construction Project

• The European XFEL is being realized as a joint effort of many partners. To this end, the European XFEL GmbH cooperates closely with the research centre DESY and other organizations worldwide.
• The Construction started in early 2009 and the commissioning has been planned for 2016.
• The construction costs of the facility, which include the commissioning, amount to 1.22 billion euro (price levels of 2005).

Being the host country, Germany covers 58% of these costs, while Russia bears 27% and the rest is shared amongst other international partners.