European XFEL
53°35′20″N 9°49′44″E / 53.589°N 9.829°E
Fundamental research | |
Founded | 23 September 2009[1] |
---|---|
Headquarters | Schenefeld, Germany |
Website | www |
The European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility (European XFEL) is an X-ray research laser facility commissioned during 2017. The first laser pulses were produced in May 2017 and the facility started user operation in September 2017. The international project with twelve participating countries; nine shareholders at the time of commissioning (Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland), later joined by three other partners (Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), is located in the German federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. A free-electron laser generates high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by accelerating electrons to relativistic speeds and directing them through special magnetic structures. The European XFEL is constructed such that the electrons produce X-ray light in synchronisation, resulting in high-intensity X-ray pulses with the properties of laser light and at intensities much brighter than those produced by conventional synchrotron light sources.[2][3] [4][5][6][7]
Location
The 3.4-kilometre (2.1 mi) long tunnel for the European XFEL housing the
Accelerator
Electrons are accelerated to an energy of up to 17.5
X-ray laser
The X-rays are generated by self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), where electrons interact with the radiation that they or their neighbours emit. Since it is not possible to build mirrors to reflect the X-rays for multiple passes through the electron beam gain medium, as with light lasers, the X-rays are generated in a single pass through the beam. The result is spontaneous emission of X-ray photons which are coherent (in phase) like laser light, unlike X-rays emitted by ordinary sources like X-ray machines, which are incoherent. The peak brilliance of the European XFEL is billions of times higher than that of conventional X-ray light sources, while the average brilliance is 10,000 times higher.[8] The higher electron energy allows the production of shorter wavelengths.[9] The duration of the light pulses can be less than 100 femtoseconds.[8]
Instruments
There are seven instruments at European XFEL, run by scientists from all over the world.
Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE)
Single Particles, Clusters, and Biomolecules & Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SPB/SFX)
Soft X-ray port (SXP)
Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS)
SCS is the soft X-rays spectroscopy and scattering instrument of the European XFEL. The scientific interest of SCS is focused on the exploration of light-induced transient phenomena in quantum materials as well as in molecules. The beamline hosts a soft X-rays grating monochromator for monochromatic operations.[10][11]
The instrument is equipped with three main end-stations that can be coupled to different experimental probes:[11]
- Chemistry chamber (CHEM) equipped with a liquid jet apparatus to study diluted samples, molecules and chemicals.[11]
- Forward-scattering Fixed-Target (FFT): a solid samples chamber equipped with an electromagnet, optimized for transmission spectroscopies, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS).[12][11]
- X-ray diffraction (XRD) chamber for solid samples equipped with a six degrees of freedom in-vacuum diffractometer.[11]
The CHEM and XRD chambers can be couple with a high-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectrometer to perform pump and probe RIXS experiments with a very high energy and temporal resolution.[11]
The FFT and CHEM chambers can be both coupled to a forward scattering DEPMOS Sensor with Signal Compression (DSSC) detector.[12][13][11]
SCS offers a variety of different optical sources to be used as a pump to induce transient states or photoactivated reactions in the samples. All the end-stations are equipped with an optical laser in-coupling which allows for spatial and temporal overlap of the X-rays and optical laser pulses at the interaction point.[11]
Small Quantum Systems (SQS)
The SQS instrument is developed to investigate fundamental processes of light-matter interaction in the soft X-ray wavelength radiation. Typical objects of investigation are in the range from isolated atoms to large bio-molecules, and typical methods are variety of spectroscopic techniques. The SQS instrument provides three experimental stations:[14]
- Atomic-like Quantum Systems (AQS) for atoms and small molecules
- Nano-size Quantum Systems (NQS) for clusters and nano-particles
- Reaction Microscope (SQS-REMI) enabling the complete characterization of the ionization and fragmentation process by analyzing all products created in the interaction of the target with the FEL pulses
Photon energy range between 260 eV and 3000 eV (4.8 nm to 0.4 nm). The ultrashort FEL pulses of less than 50 fs duration in combination with a synchronized optical laser allow for capturing ultrafast nuclear dynamics with very high resolution.[14]
Materials imaging and dynamics (MID)
The scope of the MID instrument are material science experiments using the unprecedented coherent properties of the X-ray laser beams of the European XFEL. The scientific applications reach from condensed matter physics, studying for example glass formation and magnetism, to soft and biological material, such as colloids, cells and viruses.
- Imaging
Imaging covers a broad range of techniques and scientific fields, from classical
- Dynamics
Complex nanoscale dynamics is an ubiquitous phenomenon of fundamental interest at the forefront of condensed matter science, and comprises a multitude of processes from visco-elastic flow or dissipation in liquids and glasses to polymer dynamics, protein folding, crystalline phase transitions, ultrafast spin transitions, domain wall dynamics, magnetic domain switching and many more. The extremely brilliant and highly coherent X-ray beams will open up unseen possibilities to study dynamics in disordered systems down to atomic length scales, with timescales ranging from femtoseconds to seconds using techniques such as
Control
The experiments in the facility are controlled via the in-house developed control system named .
Research
The short laser pulses make it possible to measure chemical reactions that are too rapid to be captured by other methods. The wavelength of the X-ray laser may be varied from 0.05 to 4.7 nm, enabling measurements at the atomic length scale.[8]
Initially, one photon beamline with two experimental stations can be used.[8] Later this will be upgraded to five photon beamlines and a total of ten experimental stations.[16]
The experimental beamlines enable unique scientific experiments using the high intensity, coherence and time structure of the new source to be conducted in a variety of disciplines spanning physics, chemistry, materials science, biology and nanotechnology.[17]
History
The
References
- ^ "HRB 111165: The European XFEL GmbH has been founded!". 13 October 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ a b "World's biggest ever X-ray laser shines its first light". 4 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- ^ a b "Größter Röntgenlaser der Welt erzeugt erstes Laserlicht" (in German). 4 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- ^ a b "International X-ray laser European XFEL inaugurated". 1 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ "European XFEL – Organization – Company – Shareholders". www.xfel.eu. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ^ Massimo Altarelli, ed. (2014). Annual Report of 2014 (PDF). European X-ray Free-Electron Laser Facility Gmbh. p. 10.
- ^ "DESY's European XFEL project group". Retrieved 20 December 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "European XFEL facts & figures". Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ a b "European XFEL in comparison". Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- PMID 36073890.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Scientific Instrument SCS". www.xfel.eu. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ PMID 36891842.
- ^ "DSSC". photon-science.desy.de. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ a b "Scientific Instrument SQS". www.xfel.eu.
- S2CID 201846558.
- ^ "How it works". Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ "Science". Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ "Launch of the European XFEL".
- ^ European XFEL news: "HRB 111165: The European XFEL GmbH has been founded!"
- ^ European XFEL news: "Tunnel construction completed"
- ^ European XFEL news: "European XFEL underground construction completed"