Seminars Archive

The European XFEL Project: Status and Soft X-Ray Research Applications

Abstract
The European XFEL is a new international research installation that is currently under construction in the Hamburg area in Germany. The facility will generate new knowledge in almost all the technical and scientific disciplines that are shaping our daily life – including nanotechnology, medicine, pharmaceutics, chemistry, materials science, power engineering and electronics. The X-ray flashes will be produced in a 3.4-kilometre-long facility. Most of it will be housed in tunnels deep below ground. Three sites will provide access to the tunnels and the experiment stations. In its start-up configuration, the European XFEL will comprise 3 different light sources – undulators operating at a fixed energy 12.4 keV (SASE 1), as well as in energy ranges 3.1 – 12.4 keV (SASE 2) and 0.2 – 3.1 keV (SASE 3), respectively. Six experimental stations optimized for particular purposes will be installed. Each experiment requires light with special properties, such that the stations are permanently assigned to the different light sources (beamlines) of the European XFEL. On 8 January 2009, civil engineering work (tunnels, shafts, halls) has been started at all three construction sites. In this presentation status and further parameters of the European XFEL facility as well as planned soft X-ray research applications are reviewed.