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Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
A Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association

SPEED MACHINES - DESY develops, constructs and operates particle accelerators

Challenging accelerators

High-energy accelerators are complex high-technology facilities that in some cases have colossal dimensions. Their technology stretches the limits of what is possible, and it usually has to be specifically developed for the project in question. The design, construction and successful operation of such sophisticated machines over many years requires perfect cooperation between hundreds of specialists from an extremely diverse range of fields. Almost 600 people master this challenge at DESY in close cooperation with universities, research institutes and industrial companies from Germany and around the world.

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PETRA III

The gluon – the exchange particle of the strong force, one of nature’s four fundamental interactions – was discovered in 1979 at DESY’s PETRA storage ring, which in its day was the world’s largest and most powerful electron accelerator. In future, the ring will be dedicated solely to generating light. In 2009 the PETRA accelerator – now in its third expansion phase – was recommissioned as the world’s best storage ring-based X-ray radiation source.

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HERA

The Hadron-Electron Ring Accelerator HERA was the largest particle accelerator at DESY and Germany’s largest research instrument. The 6.3-kilometre-long super electron microscope provided physicists with the world’s clearest view of the proton’s interior. Although operation of the facility ended in summer 2007, the evaluation of the data continues. The experience gained during the construction and operation of HERA is also finding its way into new accelerator projects.

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TESLA Test Faciilty

At the TESLA Test Facility, DESY and its international partners developed and tested a ground-breaking superconducting accelerator technology. The concept has proved so successful that it was chosen for the next major project in the world of particle physics, the International Linear Collider ILC. At the same time, it has also turned out to be ideal for operating a free-electron laser in the X-ray region – it now forms the basis of the X-ray laser European XFEL. The TESLA Test Facility has meanwhile been converted into the worldwide unique free-electron laser FLASH.

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FLASH

Since 2005 researchers at DESY have had access to a unique new type of light source: FLASH, the world’s only free-electron laser to generate radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions. This is a pioneering facility in a number of ways. As the world’s first-ever X-ray free-electron laser with a superconducting linear accelerator, FLASH is a source of indispensable knowledge for the development of future accelerators and X-ray lasers. At the same time, it provides researchers from virtually all the natural sciences with unprecedented experimental possibilities.

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Accelerator technology

Under the lead management of DESY, more than 50 institutes from 12 countries are developing the pioneering TESLA technology. Based on superconducting accelerator elements, it was first employed for the free-electron laser FLASH. As one of the world's leading authorities in this field, DESY is excellently positioned when it comes to current and future international projects – such as the X-ray laser European XFEL or the International Linear Collider ILC.

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