29.04.2014

Russian Ambassador visits DESY and European XFEL

On 29 April, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Germany, Vladimir M. Grinin, visited the research centre DESY and European XFEL. On a tour to the synchrotron radiation source PETRA III and the construction site of European XFEL, Ambassador Grinin was able to get a picture of the diverse collaborations of researchers based in Germany with Russian institutes.

Ambassador Vladimir Grinin (left) together with DESY physicist Wolfgang Drube at PETRA III.

“We are pleased that we were able to give Ambassador Grinin an impressive image of the successful, long-term cooperation with our Russian partners today,” said DESY Director Professor Helmut Dosch. “Especially in the field of research infrastructures – in particular at the European XFEL and the German–Russian beamline at PETRA III – we have jointly achieved a new level of collaboration in which the competence and the reliability of our Russian partners are essential.”

Thus, the PETRA III extension currently under construction will be equipped with a German–Russian beamline, which will take up operation in 2016. At the European XFEL, Russia contributes over 300 million euro, making it the second-largest shareholder. Among other things, about 800 guiding magnets and several high-tech cryogenic components come from Russian institutions. The three test benches for testing the superconducting accelerator modules prior to their integration into the European XFEL tunnel are also Russian contributions.

“Russian scientists are delivering a very important contribution to the development of free-electron lasers in general and of the European XFEL in particular,” said European XFEL Managing Director Professor Massimo Altarelli.

DESY´s cooperation with Russian institutes has a long tradition that goes back almost to the founding era of the research centre. Since 2013, the German–Russian cooperation in the development and application of large research facilities is summarized under the umbrella of the Ioffe Röntgen Institute (IRI), coordinated by DESY and the National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute in Moscow.