area flat panel, high resolution sCMOS) and will enable the implementation of different scan modalities (helical and planar CT scans, as well as mosaic) for large samples with 15-100 μm voxel size. In collaboration with two Institutes of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), a new cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) facility will be available to external users in the second semester of 2026. The facility will include a Glacios 2 cryogenic transmission electron microscope (cryo-TEM) with energy filter and an Aquilos 2 cryogenic focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) facility. Interested users will be able to apply also for the support of our upgraded Structural Biology Laboratory for protein expression, purification, crystallization, and additional biophysical/biochemical protein characterization. In addition, a new high-speed, high-spatial-resolution atomic force microscope (AFM) is available in our NanoInnovatioLab for dynamic studies of hydrated biosystems, integrated with a high-throughput nanoindenter for mechanobiology of cells and tissues. The program to upgrade beamlines and experimental stations to fully exploit the capabilities of the new Elettra 2.0 source continued thoughout 20242025, giving priority to the activities of Phases 1 and 2 of the upgrade plan, namely those to be completed before the start of the "dark period" and those planned during the "dark period". The new experimental station of the Spectromicroscopy line has become operational for users. The new experimental station of the BaDElPh beamline has been installed on the VUV line managed by CNR-ISM, where the research groups of the two beamlines have started a joint user support program. The GasPhase line has been removed from its current location and placed in its final position where it will form the basis of the low-energy branch of the new MOST beamline for atomic and molecular physics. The new diffractometer of the MCX line for powder diffraction was received from the manufacturer. Construction of the new short undulators for the ALOISA and TwinMic beamlines has begun. The tender for the construction of the beam transport for the new beamlines fed by in-vacuum undulators (μXRD, μXRF, HB-SAXS) has been completed and the selected manufacturer will deliver the first beamline in 2026. An agreement has been signed between Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, TU-Graz (Austria), and the Universities of Maribor and Primorska (Slovenia) for the construction of the new HB-SAXS beamline, designed for small-angle scattering experiments and other techniques with very bright and highly coherent beams even in the hard-ray energy range. The design of the new Coherent Diffraction Imaging (CDI) beamline was completed in collaboration with the NSLS-II optical team under an agreement between Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and all of the components of the new beamline have been ordered. The CDI beamline will be dedicated to the study of electronic phenomena in quantum solids and to the nanoscale visualization of the structure and internal composition of multifunctional and magnetic materials using scattering and coherent imaging techniques in the soft X-ray spectral range. Throughout 2025 and 2026 our users will be able to fully exploit the FERMI free-electron laser (FEL) facility, with a record-breaking number of hours of user beamtime (more than 6200 per year) expected and an ambitious target of 35 user experiments scheduled each year, all of them with a repetition rate of 50 Hz. FERMI currently is the only FEL source in the world that consistently exploits the external seeding method to offer unparalleled intensity, wavelength and linewidth stability. Last year FEL-1 in the new Echo Enabled Harmonic Generation (EEHG) mode was used in user experiments that were able to take advantage of the characteristics of particular spectral cleanliness and stability in a spectral range previously available only with FEL-2. FEL-1 in the new EEHG configuration allowed us to gain experience with this scheme, which is more complex to fine-tune than the one related to the original FERMI design. FEL-1 was also used in the first preparatory studies for the upgrade to FERMI 2.0. In 2024, a fourth harmonic input seed injection scheme was implemented. This allowed the spectral range of FERMI to be extended up to the nitrogen K-edge, although for the moment only on discrete seed harmonics. Among the outstanding results of the scientific program at FERMI, we mention the demonstration of the possibility of conducting quantum control experiments
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